Standard form calculator

Standard form means two different things, depending on where you learned it.

In the US, standard form is a number written out in full: 725,000 rather than 7.25 x 10^5, and 0.00038 rather than 3.8 x 10^-4. Converting scientific notation to standard form means moving the decimal point. The exponent says how far: a positive exponent moves it right and a negative one moves it left, with zeros filling the gaps.

7.25 x 10^5: move the point 5 places right, 7.25, 72.5, 725, 7,250, 72,500, 725,000.

3.8 x 10^-4: move the point 4 places left, 3.8, 0.38, 0.038, 0.0038, 0.00038.

In the UK and much of the world, standard form is scientific notation itself: a number from 1 up to 10 times a power of ten, a x 10^n with 1 ≤ a < 10. To write a number in standard form in that sense, move the decimal point until one non-zero digit is in front of it and count the moves. 725,000 becomes 7.25 x 10^5, and 0.00038 becomes 3.8 x 10^-4. 72.5 x 10^4 is equal, but it is not standard form, because 72.5 is not below 10.

So "write the number in standard form" needs one look at the context. A US worksheet that gives 4.1 x 10^3 wants 4,100; a British exam that gives 4,100 wants 4.1 x 10^3.

Calculators and spreadsheets print a third version, E notation: 7.25E5 means 7.25 x 10^5, and turning it into standard form is the same decimal move.