Question

which expression represents this word phrase? seven less than the quotient of x and 9 a.(9÷x)−7 b.(x÷9)−7 c.x÷97 d.x−79

Answer 1

The correct answer is the option b.

Explanation:

The idea is this kind of exercise is to translate the ‘‘natural’’ language into the ‘‘language’’ of mathematics. First, we need to read very carefully the sentence in order to understand all the terminology.

Then, we should to split the sentence in blocks of information:

‘‘seven - less than - the quotient of - x and 9’’.

Notice that the sentence is divided in 4 parts, each one giving some piece on information. The second and the third tell us the operations involved:

• less than: a subtraction,
• quotient: a division.

The fourth part tell us that the division is x÷9. This deduction jointly with the first and second part give us that the expression is (x÷9)-7.

Answer 2

In order to know the correct expression, it is important to understand each statement to the given.

seven less than the quotient of x and 9

"Less than" involves the operation subtraction and "quotient" involves the use of division. Therefore, the correct answer is option B. The correct expression should be (x÷9)−7 .