e is the exponent of the number, therefore it is the number which 10 is raised by, so -4.
Which means -1.7 will be multipled by 10 raised to the -4 power, so 1 is obviously correct.
Additionally, This is in scientific form. You can also write this in standard form in decimals, 10^-4 means it is 4 decimal places ahead the original number so you can move the decimal point back 4 places and add 0s, you will see that -0.00017 is also in fact correct.
The first penalty they received is three 15 yards so total yards is 3(15 yards) the second penalty is one 5 yard the last penalty is half the 34 yard line(34 yard)/2 total change = 3(15 yards) + 5 yrad + (34 yard)/2 = 45 yards + 5 yards + 17 yards= 67yards