516,939 views
23 votes
23 votes
Chris swam the 100 meter butterfly. His coach told him he was 5 seconds slower

than the current Oklahoma state record. Chris does not know what the record is.
What is an algebraic expression that could represent his time?

User Douglas Figueroa
by
2.5k points

1 Answer

10 votes
10 votes

The answer you are looking for is x+5.

In the case scenario, I am going to be using the "x" variable.

"x"=the current Oklahoma state record

For example, if the fastest Oklahoma state time is 54, we cannot use the equation "x-5," because then his time would be 49, which is faster, but if we use "x+5," then his time would be slightly slower at 59. This is just an example, by the way. This might not be the actual time. It may be a little bit confusing, because usually "+" means faster, and "-" means slower, but in swimming, you want to drop your time. So, this is why if he was slower, it would be "+," and if he was faster, it would be "-." I actually swim on a swimming team, so I am used to this kind of stuff. Anyways, this is just a brief explanation of why the algebraic expression is "x+5" and not "x-5."

Based on this example, we can finally conclude that the final answer for this algebraic equation would be "x+5," with x=the fastest Oklahoma time.

So, therefore, the final answer is "x+5."

Hope this helped answer your question for you. Good day to you.

User Stephendwolff
by
2.5k points
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