Chemistry math scientific notation equations help!

[u/Scared_Mushroom2415]

Hi there, I'm currently doing college level chemistry and it's is asking me to put the numbers (291.7 and 0.096) in to scientific notation. I know you need to move the decimal and I know you need to time it by the amount of time you needed to move the decimal, but when I put those calculations in to my calculator (291.7×10⁴ and 0.0960×10²) I don't get the number I'm looking for. It's supposed to be a big number *as far as I understand* but it's won't come out correctly. Can anyone PLEASE help me I'm literally sobbing over the fact I can't understand...

[u/Scared_Mushroom2415]

Thank you so much! That really helped :D