Question

Which of the following interpretations for the given expression is correct?

8(5 – 20)
A) the cube of eight times the difference of five and two times x
B) eight times the cube of the difference of five and two times x
C) eight times the difference of five and cube of two times x
D) the product of cube weight and five and difference of 2 times x

Answer 1

The expression 8(5 – 20) means eight times the difference of five and twenty, resulting in -120 after performing the subtraction and multiplication.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks us to interpret the mathematical expression 8(5 – 20). The correct interpretation of the expression is eight times the difference of five and twenty.

The options given can be confusing because they include terms like 'the cube of eight' and 'the product of cube weight', which are not relevant to the expression. The expression simply involves multiplication and subtraction, without any exponentiation (cubing) or other operations. When we have a multiplication and a subtraction inside the parentheses, we first calculate the difference and then multiply the result by the number outside the parentheses. So for the expression 8(5 – 20), we first compute (5 – 20) which is -15, and then multiply it by 8 to get -120.