Hi Pat,

"Exponential form" simply means a numeric form involving exponents. There are many ways to write 8 tons in exponential form and I am not sure what the textbook or teacher want. For example 8 = 2³ so the answer expected might be 2³ tons. Perhaps the expected answer is in pounds. One ton is 2,000 pounds so 8 tons is 16,000 pounds. What I see here is that 16 = 2⁴ and 1,000 is 10³ so you could write 8 tons as 2⁴ × 10³ pounds.

I hope this helps,
Penny