How to display text in a plot as scientific number

How do I display a very small/large number in text command as a number with 2 digits after the decimel point?

e.g. 5.42e-6 rather than 0.00000542 or 5.4200e-06

thanks,

Ziv

Answer 1

[dpb]

Use a format string to create specific format desired...

>> sprintf('%.2e',pi*1E6)
ans =
    '3.14e+06'

ergo, use

text(x,y,sprintf('%.2e',valueToPrint))   

There's also num2str, compose that have some additional flexibility for specific uses...

[Ziv Kassner]

Thanks!

Answer 2

[Adam Danz]

n =  0.00000542; 
nStr = num2str(n, '%.2e');

cla()
text(.1, .1, nStr)

% alternatively, 
text(.5, .1, sprintf('%.2e', n))

[Ziv Kassner]

Thank you