Final answer:
Scientific notation is a way of expressing very large or very small numbers in a more compact form. It is written in the general form of a x 10^n, where 'a' is a number greater than or equal to 1 but less than 10, and 'n' is an integer exponent. For example, 18 can be written as 1.8 x 10^1 in scientific notation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Scientific notation is a way of expressing very large or very small numbers in a more compact form. It is written in the general form of a x 10^n, where 'a' is a number greater than or equal to 1 but less than 10, and 'n' is an integer exponent. For example, 18 can be written as 1.8 x 10^1 in scientific notation.