It depends on the context. Sometimes it means the number e, which is approximately:
$${\mathtt{e}} = {\mathtt{2.718\: \!281\: \!828\: \!459\: \!045\: \!2}}$$
Sometimes it is used to represent 10 to some power, when used in, for example: 5e3, which would mean 5x103
The latter use is common in some computing languages.