[cryptoplot]

From http://cryptomarketplot.com/cmp-faq.html :

What exactly does 1.23e-4 means? Why do you use the computer form of scientific notation?

We use scientific notation to remove the leadings zeroes. What is simpler to read quickly, 0.000123 or 1.23e-4? If you trade crypto, you usually already know by heart how many zeroes are in front, and what is the approximate price range - you only care about the changes of the non zeroes. If the price goes from 0.000123 to 0.000142 we can save a lot of space on the screen by just writing 1.23e-4 and 1.42e-4. This way, the changes jump out and you read more numbers faster.

(...)

We use the computer form of scientific notation. 1.23e-4 instead of 1.23*10^-4, because this saves a lot of space of the screen. Scientific papers and traditional researchers may frown upon this "degenerate notation." But we absolutely love this concise and elegal notation! It may be a good thing we are in business, and not in the ivory tower of academia! We get more freedom to write numbers how we damn like!!

[the_clarence]

Yeah it’s not. My first thought was that you had messed up large integers with javascript. I’m probably not the only one who thought that.

[nicky0]

> What is simpler to read quickly, 0.000123 or 1.23e-4?

0.000123

[cryptoplot]

And between 0.00000123, 0.000123, 0.0000123 you are sure which one is which without effort?

I can't

[maxlybbert]

When they’re aligned vertically, say as part of a table, then leaving the zeros in makes it much easier to read.

[cryptoplot]

Not sure.

Check http://cryptomarketplot.com/accessible-index.html : the numbers are also aligned, and in less space that it would take if 5.744e-5 was to have all its leading zeroes.

[maxlybbert]

Within each section, right now, the exponents remain the same. I’ll concede that when that’s true, the choice of notation is irrelevant.

However, occasionally, prices will straddle a boundary between 1.9eX and 9.0eY with |X - Y| = 1. In those cases, the different exponents will be easier to miss than the different number of digits or different number of leading 0s.

[cryptoplot]

I would argue that in this case, the big change from 1.9 to 9.0 would catch your attention even more than the change in exponent.

But by the same login, I agree with you: .9eX and 9.0eY with |X - Y| = 1 may cause too much focus on what is a small difference.

Some hard choices were made. It is not perfect.

[buboard]

i disagree, the standard notation with 8 decimals is easier to process instantly. Or at least show everything with as <value>E-8 so that eyeballing is easy