As zegores said,writing number that is too small or too big to write, for example you want to write 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 but since that would take a long time and unnessecary writing you could put 5 * 10^27
Another example:
0.000 000 000 000 000 54 could be written as 5.4 * 10^-16
Usually used in problems dealing with space like the distance between two galaxies, or in very small distances or quantities.
Its a way of writing a number that is way to small or too big to write regularly
As zegores said,writing number that is too small or too big to write, for example you want to write 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 but since that would take a long time and unnessecary writing you could put 5 * 10^27
Another example:
0.000 000 000 000 000 54 could be written as 5.4 * 10^-16
Usually used in problems dealing with space like the distance between two galaxies, or in very small distances or quantities.