An object for formatting numbers in a scientific format.
Description
ScientificFormat is an IScientificNumberFormatinterface coclass who's members determine how the ValueToString**method in the associated INumberFormat**interface formats numbers.
Use theScientificFormat when you want to express numbers in a scientific format, for example to create a table of empirical values. ScientificFormat expresses numbers as a power of 10. For example, the value 1500 scientifically formatted to 3 significant digits is the expression 1.50e+003, where the number before 'e' is the mantissa, and the number after 'e' is the power of 10, or exponent. The meaning of this expression is 1.50 X 10^3. The number of digits in exponent (+003) cannot be changed and is always a plus or minus sign and 3 digits.
The DecimalPlaces property sets or returns a long representing the number of decimals to show in the mantissa. Since all digits in a scientific format expression are significant, set the DecimalPlaces property to the number of desired significant digits minus 1. For example, to express the value 1 to 3 significant digits (1.00e+000), set DecimalPlaces to 2. The default value is 6.
Supported Platforms
Windows, Solaris, Linux
Interfaces
| Interfaces | Description |
|---|---|
| IClone | Provides access to members that control cloning of objects. |
| INumberFormat | Provides access to members that format numbers. |
| INumberFormatOperations | Provides access to common operations on formatted numbers. |
| IPersist | |
| IPersistStream | |
| IScientificNumberFormat | Provides access to members that format scientific numbers. |
Remarks
The power behind the scientific format is a way of expressing significant zeros. For example, a 1000 yard distance measured with a bicycle odometer may only be accurate to the nearest 10th mile (176 yards). In this case, 1000 is only significant to one place and should be expressed as 1 X 10^3. On the other hand, you may know the measurement is precise to the last zero (perhaps you carefully measured this distance with a yardstick); you would then want to express the measurement as 1.000 X 10^3.