Allow scientific notation (E format) in numerical answers

[mhurwitz]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

Often students work with very large or small numbers, and need to enter numerical values such as "3.27E15" or "9.2E-6".  Canvas should allow this format in answers to numerical questions; it's so widely used in engineering and programming.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the

   Canvas Release Notes (2019-06-01)‌

 Canvas Production Release Notes (2015-10-31)

[cbrown3]

This would be really great!

[leward]

Hi Renee.  I've been searching the Canvas Community site for information about scientific notation support in the current Canvas Quizzes tool and I am coming up dry.  The Canvas Release notes referenced above makes no mention of it, nor does the documentation on numeric question types in the Canvas Quizzes tool.  Does this feature actually exist and where can I learn more about it.

[mhurwitz]

Lynn, scientific notation is (sort of) working in Numerical questions.

For example, I can create a Numerical question in which the correct answer is 5.7E23 , with range +/- 1E22, and I think it will be graded correctly.

However, small-magnitude numbers are rounded to zero. For example, if I enter a value like 5.4E-9, Canvas rounds it to Zero. Thus, the system is not as helpful as it should be.

Best

Mark

[Renee_Carney]

Quizzes.Next update in    Canvas Release Notes (2019-06-01)

[mhurwitz]

The "E" notation isn't working for me anymore. Sigh. If I put a number like 5.11E14 into the "exact numerical answer" field, it is immediately converted to zero. 

[mhurwitz]

The "E" notation isn't working for me anymore. Sigh. If I put a number like 5.11E14 into the "exact numerical answer" field, it is immediately converted to zero. 

[may027]

Can this be reopened for voting? As far as I can tell the "e" format for scientific notation has not been implemented in Canvas, only the much fussier, "2x10^3", notation and only in "new quizzes". I have tried using the "e" format in classic quizzes but the results are unreliable for large/small numbers.

[Stef_retired]

 @may027  , Classic (Old) Quizzes is scheduled for deprecation in early 2021 (as displayed on the timeline here) and as such our teams are no longer developing new functionality on the old quizzes code base.

[mhurwitz]

How do I tell whether a quiz I create is a "new quiz" or an "old quiz?"  All I see is "quiz" as an option when I create a new item. Anyway, with a "new quiz," is scientific notation useable in all kinds of questions and answers - numeric, formula, etc.? What exactly is the format for positive and negative exponents? What are the upper and lower limits both in absolute and in magnitude? Just as an example, is -2.7E-38, or -2.7x10^-38, whatever the format, really working properly in all fields? 

[Stef_retired]

 @mhurwitz , at schools that have not yet turned on New Quizzes for its instructors, they'll see only the one option to create a quiz using the old quiz tool. More information is in the User Group: New Quizzes and in the documentation for New Quizzes; if you don't find answers to your specific questions, please post new questions to the group.