So we begin with copper in its elemental state. And that means copper gets a charge of zero according to our rules. Let's look at nitric acid. Now, nitric acid, it contains an hmm and an O. That means we first assign to H, then we assign to O, then we assign to the N. Now our entire molecule must be neutral, so we must take that into consideration when assigning. So let's give our H a plus one according to our table.