text: astronomy in particular deals with very large numbers, which can be difficult to handle. using exponents(scientific notation) makes that easier.\nfor example the average distance from the earth to the sun is 93,000,000 miles. converting to sci notation makes that number 9.3 x 10(7). The distance to the nearest star is 24 trillion miles. How much fun would it be to multiply those two numbers together? not much as real numbers but in scientific notation it is much easier.