Hi! I am new here! and i am stuck on a word problem!

[Bethany]

Hi my name is Bethany and I am stuck on a word problem that is so easy the answer is probably hitting me on the head!
Five Students took an algebra test.The average score was 84.Four of the scores were 96,68,79, and 85.What score did the fifth student get?

I feel so stupid right now...

 

[JeffM]

Hi my name is Bethany and I am stuck on a word problem that is so easy the answer is probably hitting me on the head!
Five Students took an algebra test.The average score was 84.Four of the scores were 96,68,79, and 85.What score did the fifth student get?

I feel so stupid right now...

Feeling stupid is not nice. It is also not productive.

In a word problem the first thing to do ALWAYS is to assign a unique letter to each relevant variable along with a brief description of the variable.

Let x = score of fifth student. There that is the first step done for this problem.

Now you need to translate the conditions of the problem from words into mathematical symbols. To do this you may have to use some general information not included in the problem.

How do you take an average of five numbers?

Using x to stand for the score of the fifth student, how would you write in mathematics the conditions of the problem?

Can you solve that?