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14 votes
19a + 44 - 19a
Need help with this was not paying attention in class

User Momboco
by
4.4k points

2 Answers

12 votes

Answer:

44

Explanation:

Hahaha, fair enough.

This one may look more difficult than it is. In algebra, there are variables and there are constants.

A constant is a number that is constantly the same, in the example you posted, 44 is the constant.

A variable is like a place holder, it indicates that there is a number that will be substituted in, we just don't know what that number is yet. In your example, the variable is represented by the letter "a."

If youre still a little unsure what a variable is, think of it like this:

Every morning, you like to have one, single cup of coffee, but some days you feel like putting 1 spoon of sugar in, some mornings you want no sugar, and some mornings you really want something sweet and so you have 3 spoons of sugar.

In algebra, your morning cup of coffee is represented 1 + s. 1 is the number of cups of coffee you have and "s" represents how much sugar you put in it. "s" can equal 1, 3, or even 0 spoons of sugar. "s" will represent the number of spoons of sugar consistantly, BUT, keep in mind that while the value of a variable is the same within that one term or equation it can represent a different value in another term or equation.

1 + s on Monday could equal 4 because you really want some sugar at the beginning of your week so you put 3 sugars in. 1 + 3 = 4. But on Thursday, you don't want any sugar, so 1 + 0 = 1. Monday and Thursday are different terms/equations.

SO, because a variable always has the same value within a term/equation, in your example 19a + 44 - 19a, "a" will always have the same value. if a = 1 then your example is 19(1) + 44 - 19(1). If the value of "a" is 1,000,000, then your example looks like 19(1,000,000) + 44 - 19(1,000,000).

We can rewrite your question a little to make it clearer. 19a - 19a + 44, we just swapped the positions of 44 and -19a. So you can see, that no matter what value "a" represents, they will cancel each other out. leaving you with 44 as your answer.

User Ali Nasserzadeh
by
4.0k points
7 votes

19a + 44 - 19a

Group like terms.


19a - 19a + 44

Add similar elements.


19a - 19a = 0


=44

User Nikola Despotoski
by
4.2k points