Commodore PET User Manual page 68

F.:EAD'T'.
·?1111111115
1 • 11111112E
+(19
A number in scientific notation has the form:
numberE±ee
where:
number
E
±
ee
is an integer, fraction, or combination, as illustrated above.
The "number" portion contains the number's significant
digits; it is called the "coefficient." If no decimal point ap-
pears, it is assumed to be to the right of the coefficient.
the upper case letter E.
an optional plus sign or minus sign.
a one- or two-digit exponent. The exponent specifies the mag-
nitude of the number; that is, the number of places to the
right (positive exponent) or to the left (negative exponent) that
the decimal point must be moved to give the true decimal
point location.
Here are some examples:
Scientific Notation
2El
10.5E+4
66E+2
66E-2
-66E-2
1E-l0
94E20
Standard Notation
20
105000
6600
0.66
-0.66
0.0000000001
9400000000000000000000
As the last two examples show, scientific notation is a much more conve-
nient way of expressing very large or very small numbers. PET BASIC prints num-
bers ranging between 0.01 and 999,999,999 using standard notation; but num-
bers outside of this range are printed using scientific notation.
?009
9E-0::::
F.:EAD'T'.
~'.
01
.01
F:EAD'T'.
'7-'999999998.9
999999999
PEAD'T'.
?999999999.6
1E+(19
55