Terminology and Understanding

[Menu]   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I
n is an index.
10ⁿ is read as 10 to the power n.

The number zero cannot be represented in the form fx10ⁿ
(because of the requirement that f cannot be smaller than 1.00)

It is important to understand that
  the number gets its sign (+ or -) from f
  the sign of n determines the size of the number
    if n is 12 the number will be very large
    if n is -12 the number will be very small