The standard form of the number $1.2 \times 10^1$ is $12$.

To understand why $1.2 \times 10^1$ equals $12$, we should break down the components of this expression. In this case, $1.2$ is known as the coefficient, while $10^1$ represents the base $10$ raised to the power of $1$. Scientific notation utilizes base $10$ to represent both very large and very small numbers in a more convenient format. The exponent, which is $1$ in this instance, indicates how many times we should multiply the base $10$ by itself.

When the exponent is $1$, it signifies that we multiply $10$ by itself just once, resulting in $10$. In mathematical terms, we can express this as:

Next, we multiply the coefficient $1.2$ by $10$:

Thus, the standard (or normal) form of $1.2 \times 10^1$ is indeed $12$. This conversion from scientific notation to standard form involves multiplying the coefficient by $10$ raised to the specified power. This approach is particularly useful for simplifying calculations and for expressing extremely large or small numbers in a more manageable way.