In standard form operations, what must be done with the coefficients before the final answer is presented?

When performing operations in standard form, the coefficients must be combined correctly, taking into account the powers of 10 associated with each term. Standard form, or scientific notation, is often expressed in the form ( a \times 10^n ), where ( a ) is the coefficient and ( n ) is the exponent.

When you are adding or subtracting numbers in standard form, it is essential to first ensure the exponents are the same. This means that you may need to adjust one or both numbers so that they have a common power of ten. Once the bases are equal, you can directly combine the coefficients.

For example, if you are adding ( 3.0 \times 10^2 ) and ( 2.5 \times 10^3 ), you would convert ( 2.5 \times 10^3 ) to ( 25.0 \times 10^2 ) to allow the coefficients (3.0 and 25.0) to be summed correctly. After summing these coefficients, the result should be expressed back in standard form if it’s outside the range of 1 to 10 for coefficients.

This correct combination of coefficients ensures the final