Question

The sum of three numbers is 62. The second number is equal to the first number diminished by 4. The third number is four times the first. What are the numbers?

Which three expressions could be used to represent the numbers?

n; n - 4; 4n
n; 4 - n; n + 4
n; n/4; n + 4

Answer 1

Let's translate these sentences to math one-by-one.

"The sum of three numbers is 62..." translates to the expression:

? + ? + ? = 62

We aren't given any modifications to the first number, so let's just pick a variable n to represent it.

n + ? + ? = 62

The second number is "equal to the first number diminished by 4. We can interpret "diminished by 4" as meaning "subtracted by 4," so we now have:

n + (n - 4) + ? = 62

And finally, we have that the third number is "four times the first," which evidently implies multiplication of the first number by 4. Which gives us:

n + (n - 4) + (4n) = 62

At this point, we don't even need to solve for n, since we already have our three expressions, and those are n, n - 4, and 4n.