Engineering notation

Engineering characters differs from normalized accurate characters in that the backer b is belted to multiples of 3. Consequently, the complete amount of a is in the ambit 1 ≤ |a| < 1000, rather than 1 ≤ |a| < 10. Though agnate in concept, engineering characters is rarely alleged accurate notation. This allows the numbers to absolutely bout their agnate SI prefixes, which facilitates account and articulate communication. For example, 12.5×10−9 m can be apprehend as "twelve-point-five nanometers" or accounting as 12.5 nm, while its accurate characters analogue 1.25×10−8 m would acceptable be apprehend out as "one-point-two-five times ten-to-the-negative-eight meters".