In this section, we discuss how to divide numbers expressed in scientific notation. When dividing, you first find the leading value of the result by dividing the leading values in the traditional manner. For example, if you want to divide 6×10⁴ by 3×10², you first divide six by three, with a result of two.

Then, you subtract the exponents to find the power of 10. In the example above, the exponents are four and two, so the power of 10 is 10². The final result of the division is 2×10². The principles of how to divide in scientific notation and an example problem are shown on the right.

Remember to format your number after the division so that the leading value remains between one and 10. In other words, if you divide two by four, you should report the value as 5×10⁻¹, not 0.5×10⁰.