Question

PLEASE HELP

Which equation would you use to solve the following situation?
Ms. Green has 18 pencils at her desk. Students borrow some of the pencils, and 6 pencils are left at the end of the school day. How many pencils were borrowed?

x - 6 = 18
18 - x = 6
18 + 6 = x

Answer 1

18-x=6

Explanation:

because

if you have eighteen and some were borrowed and 6 were left so it will be subtracted

Answer 2

18 - x = 6

Explanation:

In any equation x is the unkown you are trying to figure out.

In a word-problem-solving question its helpful to set out what you know and what you dont know:

You know the original number of pens = 18

You know the final number of pens = 6

You dont know how many pens were taken.

Therefore x is the difference between 18 and 6.

18 pens take away x pens is equal to 6

hence 18 - x =6