Would my ds lose a mark for this in physics exam?

[Bartg]

Giving the answer at 25.5 x 10-5 instead of 2.55 x 10-6

Just thought I would post here and see if anyone knows. He says they mean the same so it’s fine. But notice all the answers are given in the 2.55 x 10^-6 format

Senior examiner here - I hate it, but we don't take off a mark for it. It's not standard form, but we don't insist on standard form

Ps your examples aren't actually equivalent, 2.55 x 10-6 is equivalent to 25.5 x 10-7. But that wasn't what you're asking!

Depends if the q asks for it in standard form or not. If not, then no mark lost.

That’s great. Thank you. Sorry I got my example wrong. Appreciate you understanding what I was trying to ask! I might modify my question above so k don’t get lots of people telling me I am wrong !

It doesn’t ask for standard form I don’t think. I will double check though from now on when he doing past papers as wasn’t sure what “standard form” means, but do now

I am absolutely not an examiner.
However I suspect he would get away with it in physics but not in maths if they have asked for standard form.
Standard for has precisely one digit (and not a zero) before the decimal point.

However, why run the risk of 'getting away with it' when he has a calculator to hand in physics so can convert it correctly?

It is like I always say to my DDs, if you have a choice of 2 examples and one is clearly right but the other is a borderline case, always use the clearly right version.