Question

Three more than twice a number is 35.

Answer 1

The number is 16.

Explanation:

Let the unknown number be x.

Now we translate the sentence into an equation piece by piece.

Three more than twice a number is 35.

2x

Three more than twice a number is 35.

2x + 3

Three more than twice a number is 35.

2x + 3 = 35

Now we solve the equation.

Subtract 3 from both sides.

2x = 32

Divide both sides by 2.

x = 16

Answer: The number is 16.

P.S. Notice that x was a variable that was introduced solely to solve the problem. The original problem is a word problem, not an equation, and has no x in it. The correct answer makes no reference to x since x was used to solve the equation but is not part of the given problem. The person asking the question has no idea what x is. He just wants a number as an answer.

Answer 2

x = 16, or if you didn't want the value for x,

2x + 3 = 35

Explanation:

Three more: +3

Twice a number: 2x

Combined:

2x + 3 = 35.

Get rid of the 3 by subtracting it from both sides:

2x = 32

Get rid of the 2 by dividing it from both sides:

x = 16