# Does Processing Understand Scientific Notation?
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/does-processing-understand-scientific-notation/969
**Category:** Beginners
**Created:** [June 14, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/does-processing-understand-scientific-notation/969 "2018-06-14T18:22:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@xxxlaf](https://discourse.processing.org/u/xxxlaf)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/does-processing-understand-scientific-notation/969/1 "2018-06-14T18:22:52Z")
Does processing know that when I type 6.673e-11 as a float it should come out 0.00000000006673 ?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/does-processing-understand-scientific-notation/969/2 "2018-06-14T19:02:02Z")
Within β.pdeβ files, any literal w/ a dot `.` or an `e` in it is treated as a `float` primitive datatype: π§
[https://Processing.org/reference/float.html](https://Processing.org/reference/float.html)
If you wish for a `double` instead, suffix them all w/ a `d`: `6.673e-11d` π¨βπ
[https://Processing.org/reference/double.html](https://Processing.org/reference/double.html)
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### Author:  [@Kevin](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Kevin)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/does-processing-understand-scientific-notation/969/3 "2018-06-14T19:08:44Z")
The best way to answer questions like this is to just put together a little example program that tests it out:
```
float x = 6.673e-11;
float y = 0.00000000006673;
println(x == y);
```
This prints out `true`. But be mindful of floating point accuracy.