Final answer:
The product of 5.1 x 10⁻⁸ and 0.07a is 3.57 × 10⁻⁹ᵃ. This is calculated by multiplying the decimal parts and keeping the exponent of ten as -8 since there's no exponent with 'a' to add.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question involves finding the product of two numbers expressed in scientific notation. The numbers are 5.1 × 10⁻⁸ and 0.07a. To find the product, multiply the decimal parts (5.1 and 0.07) and add the exponents of 10. Multiplying 5.1 by 0.07 gives 0.357.
Since there is no exponent with 'a', we can ignore it for multiplication purposes. The exponent part remains the same, as there is no other exponent to add to.
To write the final result in correct scientific notation, we express 0.357 as 3.57 and adjust the exponent part accordingly. This would involve reducing our base number to one digit before the decimal and adjusting the exponent of ten to account for the shift in the decimal place.
Therefore, the correct scientific notation for the product would be 3.57 × 10⁻⁹ᵃ.