Sometimes, when numbers get obscenely large, it becomes impractical to display them in a typical fashion. This is because the number of digits will make it difficult to read and comprehend the number, or it becomes an issue of space when attempting to display it. In these cases, they will often be written in powers of 10, as it leaves a short term that can be quickly understood. This is known as Scientific Notation. For example, 51200000000 can be expressed as 5.12 x 10^10.