Small Basic includes Exponential Notation!!!

Here's a little-known factoid. This is great for those of you who are power users for Small Basic and using some "big math" in your programs!

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Small Basic: Scientific Notation

Let's get started!

Scientific notation is a way to write numbers that are too large or too small. For example, a microbiologist might need to measure cell growth up to 0.000000005 of a micron.

Use scientific notation to write the number 56,372.85 as 5.637285´10⁴ (where 10⁴ is 10000; the decimal goes to the right four spots). In most programming languages, you can use E-notation to represent decimal numbers.

In E-notation, the number 56,372.85 is written as 5.637285E4. The part of the number after the E is the power of 10. The E4 in this example means “times ten to the fourth power.” The Table shows you the E representation of some numbers.

Table: Examples of E-notation

Small Basic doesn’t treat E-notations like other numbers; you can’t assign an E-notation to a variable. For example, this statement gives you a syntax error:

But if you put the E-notation in double quotes, then Small Basic recognizes it as a number! This is a parser feature to make it clear (to you and to Small Basic) that you meant it to be an E-notation. Try out this code snippet to get a hang of it:

Now you can use E-notation when you need to!

Find the latest version of this article on TechNet Wiki:

 Small Basic: Scientific Notation

Small and Basically yours,

   - Ninja Ed & Majed Marji