You get this answer by multiplying the total amount of goods in tons (900,000) by the average value of the goods ($17,000 per ton) to get your answer of 1.53x10^10 dollars.
We first write 9.0x10^5 in standard form. The exponent of the power of 10, 5, tells us to move the decimal point 5 places. Since it is positive, we move the decimal to the right (to make the number larger). This gives us 900000 tons.
Each ton is worth $17,000. This gives us a total value of
900000(17000) = 15300000000.
Our answer needs to be written in scientific notation. This means we want the decimal after the first non-zero digit in the number; it goes behind the 1. This makes 1.53. To move the decimal here, we must move it 10 places; this gives us the answer of
