golding@neon.Stanford.EDU (Andy Golding) (06/17/91)
I was wondering what is the preferred way of formatting numbers in exponential notation, e.g., -1.23e-4 I tried the following: (a) -1.23e-4 --> the negative signs are wrong (b) $-1.23e-4$ --> bad spacing; looks like -1.23e minus 4 (c) --1.23e--4 --> the dashes and spacing don't look right (d) $-$1.23e$-$4 --> not bad, but cumbersome to type Perhaps my mistake is trying to use exponential notation in the first place... but I don't see how else to print tiny numbers. Any suggestions? Thanks, Andy
schwab@julien.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Andreas Schwab) (06/17/91)
In article <1991Jun17.074816.9332@neon.Stanford.EDU>, golding@neon.Stanford.EDU (Andy Golding) writes: |> |> I was wondering what is the preferred way of formatting |> numbers in exponential notation, e.g., |> |> -1.23e-4 |> |> I tried the following: |> |> (a) -1.23e-4 --> the negative signs are wrong |> (b) $-1.23e-4$ --> bad spacing; looks like -1.23e minus 4 |> (c) --1.23e--4 --> the dashes and spacing don't look right |> (d) $-$1.23e$-$4 --> not bad, but cumbersome to type |> |> Perhaps my mistake is trying to use exponential notation |> in the first place... but I don't see how else to print |> tiny numbers. Any suggestions? |> |> Thanks, |> Andy What about $-1.23\cdot 10^{-4}$ ? -- Andreas Schwab schwab@ls5.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
geyer@galton.uchicago.edu (06/17/91)
In article <1991Jun17.074816.9332@neon.Stanford.EDU>, golding@neon.Stanford.EDU (Andy Golding) writes: > I was wondering what is the preferred way of formatting > numbers in exponential notation, e.g., > > -1.23e-4 > > I tried the following: > > (a) -1.23e-4 --> the negative signs are wrong > (b) $-1.23e-4$ --> bad spacing; looks like -1.23e minus 4 > (c) --1.23e--4 --> the dashes and spacing don't look right > (d) $-$1.23e$-$4 --> not bad, but cumbersome to type In article <3542@laura.UUCP> schwab@julien.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Andreas Schwab) writes: > What about $-1.23\cdot 10^{-4}$ ? Right or $-1.23 \times 10^{-4}$. Either is what, before brain-damaged stone age computers with monocase ascii, we used to call ``exponential'' or ``scientific'' notation. You could also use {\tt -1.23e-4} if you really want the appearance of computer output rather than mathematics. Charles Geyer Department of Statistics University of Chicago geyer@galton.uchicago.edu
pallas@eng.sun.com (Joseph Pallas) (06/18/91)
In <1991Jun17.074816.9332@neon.Stanford.EDU> golding@neon.Stanford.EDU (Andy Golding) writes: >I was wondering what is the preferred way of formatting >numbers in exponential notation, e.g., > -1.23e-4 >Perhaps my mistake is trying to use exponential notation >in the first place... but I don't see how else to print >tiny numbers. Any suggestions? I believe the correct way to typeset this notation in TeX is $-1.23 \times 10^{-4}$. This is, admittedly, cumbersome to type, and you may want to use a macro to simplify its entry. But the resulting appearance is exactly right. joe