The national debt as of January 20, 2008, is best approximated by option C: 10.024 x 10^12.
Here's how to determine this:
- In scientific notation, 10.024 x 10^12 represents 10.024 multiplied by 1 followed by 12 zeros, which equals 10,024,000,000,000.
- The national debt being in trillions at that time, this number aligns with the appropriate order of magnitude for the national debt in billions or trillions.
