See tables from Python string formatting to select the proper format layout. In your case it’s %.2E.

My decimals are too big for %E so I had to improvize:

def format_decimal(x, prec=2):
    tup = x.as_tuple()
    digits = list(tup.digits[:prec + 1])
    sign = '-' if tup.sign else ''
    dec = ''.join(str(i) for i in digits[1:])
    exp = x.adjusted()
    return '{sign}{int}.{dec}e{exp}'.format(sign=sign, int=digits[0], dec=dec, exp=exp)

Here’s an example usage:

>>> n = decimal.Decimal(4.3) ** 12314
>>> print format_decimal(n)
3.39e7800
>>> print '%e' % n
inf

Here’s an example using the format() function:

>>> "{:.2E}".format(Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000'))
'4.08E+10'

Instead of format, you can also use f-strings:

>>> f"{Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000'):.2E}"
'4.08E+10'

• official documentation

• original format() proposal

To convert a Decimal to scientific notation without needing to specify the precision in the format string, and without including trailing zeros, I’m currently using

def sci_str(dec):
    return ('{:.' + str(len(dec.normalize().as_tuple().digits) - 1) + 'E}').format(dec)

print( sci_str( Decimal('123.456000') ) )    # 1.23456E+2

To keep any trailing zeros, just remove the normalize().

def formatE_decimal(x, prec=2):
    """ Examples:
    >>> formatE_decimal('0.1613965',10)
    '1.6139650000E-01'
    >>> formatE_decimal('0.1613965',5)
    '1.61397E-01'
    >>> formatE_decimal('0.9995',2)
    '1.00E+00'
    """
    xx=decimal.Decimal(x) if type(x)==type("") else x 
    tup = xx.as_tuple()
    xx=xx.quantize( decimal.Decimal("1E{0}".format(len(tup[1])+tup[2]-prec-1)), decimal.ROUND_HALF_UP )
    tup = xx.as_tuple()
    exp = xx.adjusted()
    sign = '-' if tup.sign else ''
    dec = ''.join(str(i) for i in tup[1][1:prec+1])   
    if prec>0:
        return '{sign}{int}.{dec}E{exp:+03d}'.format(sign=sign, int=tup[1][0], dec=dec, exp=exp)
    elif prec==0:
        return '{sign}{int}E{exp:+03d}'.format(sign=sign, int=tup[1][0], exp=exp)
    else:
        return None

This worked best for me:

import decimal
'%.2E' % decimal.Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000')
# 4.08E+10

Given your number

x = Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000')

Starting from Python 3,

'{:.2e}'.format(x)

is the recommended way to do it.

e means you want scientific notation, and .2 means you want 2 digits after the dot. So you will get x.xxE±n

No one mentioned the short form of the .format method:

Needs at least Python 3.6

f"{Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000'):.2E}"

(I believe it’s the same as Cees Timmerman, just a bit shorter)

I prefer Python 3.x way.

cal = 123.4567
print(f"result {cal:.4E}")

4 indicates how many digits are shown shown in the floating part.

cal = 123.4567
totalDigitInFloatingPArt = 4
print(f"result {cal:.{totalDigitInFloatingPArt}E} ")

This is a consolidated list of the “Simple” Answers & Comments.

PYTHON 3

from decimal import Decimal

x = '40800000000.00000000000000'
# Converted to Float
x = Decimal(x)

# ===================================== # `Dot Format`
print("{0:.2E}".format(x))
# ===================================== # `%` Format
print("%.2E" % x)
# ===================================== # `f` Format
print(f"{x:.2E}")
# =====================================
# ALL Return: 4.08E+10
print((f"{x:.2E}") == ("%.2E" % x) == ("{0:.2E}".format(x)))
# True
print(type(f"{x:.2E}") == type("%.2E" % x) == type("{0:.2E}".format(x)))
# True
# =====================================

OR Without IMPORT‘s

# NO IMPORT NEEDED FOR BASIC FLOATS
y = '40800000000.00000000000000'
y = float(y)

# ===================================== # `Dot Format`
print("{0:.2E}".format(y))
# ===================================== # `%` Format
print("%.2E" % y)
# ===================================== # `f` Format
print(f"{y:.2E}")
# =====================================
# ALL Return: 4.08E+10
print((f"{y:.2E}") == ("%.2E" % y) == ("{0:.2E}".format(y)))
# True
print(type(f"{y:.2E}") == type("%.2E" % y) == type("{0:.2E}".format(y)))
# True
# =====================================

Comparing

# =====================================
x
# Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000')
y
# 40800000000.0

type(x)
# <class 'decimal.Decimal'>
type(y)
# <class 'float'>

x == y
# True
type(x) == type(y)
# False

x
# Decimal('40800000000.00000000000000')
y
# 40800000000.0

So for Python 3, you can switch between any of the three for now.

My Fav:

print("{0:.2E}".format(y))

Here is the simplest one I could find.

format(40800000000.00000000000000, '.2E')
#'4.08E+10'

(‘E’ is not case sensitive. You can also use ‘.2e’)

Adding an updated answer to show how to apply e notation to small numbers only

value = 0.1
a = "{:,}".format(value) if value >= 0.001 else "{:,.3e}".format(value)
print(a) # 0.1

value = 0.00002488
a = "{:,}".format(value) if value >= 0.001 else "{:,.3e}".format(value)
print(a) # 2.488e-05