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How would i write The difference of three times a number and 4 is -19 in a equation?

How would i write The difference of three times a number and 4 is -19 in a equation-example-1
User MatrixTXT
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1 Answer

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Hi! I'm happy to help!

To solve this, we first have to understand the terms and the way they arrange the equation.

First, we have the difference of ____and_____=. (the "is" after 4 refers to equals)

We will write this as:

_______-_______= ,because difference means subtraction.

For our first blank, we have 3 times a number. Because we do not know this number, we will use a variable.(n) 3 times a number is 3 multiplied by a number. We can just write 3n, because it represent multiplication.

3n-______=

Now, we see the part of the equation after the "and". We just see 4, so we can insert that here:

3n-4=

Now, we see what is shown after the "is".

We just have -19, so we can insert that here:

3n-4=-19

Now, let's solve (not sure if I need to):

To solve for n, we have to isolate it on one side of the equation. To do this, let's cancel out the -4 on the left side of the equation by adding 4 to both sides:

3n=-15

From here, we need to get rid of the 3 next to the n by dividing both sides by 3:

n=-5

So, we write it as 3n-4=-19, and n=-5.

I hope this was helpful, keep learning! :D

User Lin
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