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Exercises Expressions, exponents and radicals

Example 2.23 from Prealgebra, 2.2 Evaluate, Simplify, and Translate Expressions

Evaluate, Simplify, and Translate Expressions: example 2.23

Translate each word phrase into an algebraic expression:

ⓐ the difference of $20$ and $4$
ⓑ the quotient of $10 x$ and $3$

Work it out on paper first. Then open the solution one step at a time, and stop as soon as you can finish on your own.

Solution
ⓐ The key word is difference, which tells us the operation is subtraction. Look for the words of and and to find the numbers to subtract.
$\begin{array}{l} the difference of 20 a n d 4 \\ 20 minus 4 \\ 20 - 4 \end{array}$

ⓑ The key word is quotient, which tells us the operation is division.
$\begin{array}{l} the quotient of 10 x and 3 \\ divide 10 x by 3 \\ 10 x \div 3 \end{array}$

This can also be written as $\begin{array}{l} 10 x / 3 or \frac{10 x}{3} \end{array}$

Your turn

The book's Try It right after this example: same idea, new numbers. Only the answer is given.

Translate the given word phrase into an algebraic expression:

ⓐ the difference of $47$ and $41$
ⓑ the quotient of $5 x$ and $2$

How did it go?

PreviousEvaluate, Simplify, and Translate Expressions: example 2.22 Next Evaluate, Simplify, and Translate Expressions: example 2.24

From Prealgebra (1st edition) by OpenStax (Rice University), section 2.2, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Original at openstax.org. We split the solution into steps; the words, numbers and figures are the book's. OpenStax doesn't endorse this site.