Hi Joshua,
The system is not able to handle something like {N}e{EXP} as e is not a PHP function.
However, it should be able to detect such errors in the formula.
As for using scientific notation you can set the generator with min 2.3e-2 and max 6.7e-1. The generated values will be OK.
However there is an actual limit of 9 decimals in the values generated so 1e-16 will not work.
Instead use the following trick .
Generate values between 1 and 10 for say {N} wild card and display the parameter in the question text as {N}E-16.
The question text will show the rigth value for the students and you have to set your formula by multipliying {N} * 1.0e-16.
Pierre