Use the given number game to answer the following question.

If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number,
then I write it like this, according to our result.
y= x+2
Then, it is equivalent because I chose 5 so if I replaced x with this value
y =5+2
=7
that would match our result.
 
eddy2017 said:
If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number,
then I write it like this, according to our result.
y= x+2
Then, it is equivalent because I chose 5 so if I replaced x with this value
y =5+2
=7
that would match our result.
Click to expand...
That is correct, but how did you get it?
 
By looking at the choices
y = 2 y equals 2
y = 2x y equals 2 x
y = x − 2 y equals x minus 2
y = x +2

If our y is 7
and I chose 5 for our x number
then it is only a question of looking at the choices and replacing x for 5 and doing the addition.
Then y= x + 2

Hey, Jeff, you're a demanding teacher. Lol
I like that!

There is no room for doubt with you.
 
eddy2017 said:
By looking at the choices
y = 2 y equals 2
y = 2x y equals 2 x
y = x − 2 y equals x minus 2
y = x +2

If our y is 7
and I chose 5 for our x number
then it is only a question of looking at the choices and replacing x for 5 and doing the addition. The addition is the check. Forgot to add.
Then y= x + 2

Hey, Jeff, you're a demanding teacher. Lol
I like that!

There is no room for doubt with you.
Click to expand...
 
eddy2017 said:
If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number,
then I write it like this, according to our result.
y= x+2
Then, it is equivalent because I chose 5 so if I replaced x with this value
y =5+2
=7
that would match our result.
Click to expand...
What's the complete expression?
 
eddy2017 said:
Don't get that. the complete expression?
Click to expand...
Eddy

How do you GENERALLY describe the process without specifying a number? You add 5 and so on. If you tell me that [imath]y = x+ 2[/imath], I say there is not one single word in those instructions that says to add 2 to anything. You say that 7 is 2 greater than 5. True. But would it be true if x = 9,278,423,179,981,201 that y = 9,278,423,179,203?
 
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lev888 said:
What's the complete expression?
Click to expand...
I thought you did the first step of the problem (add 5). I asked for the expression that corresponds to the rest of the steps. Will you finally do it? What do you need to do with the expression in post 79 to get the correct answer for the question "If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number, which equation is equivalent to the number game?"
 
Lev, I really don't know what you mean. I thought we had come to the final result when we went through all the steps and got y= x+2
That is among the equations given in the choice. That is choice D.
 
eddy2017 said:
Lev, I really don't know what you mean. I thought we had come to the final result when we went through all the steps and got y= x+2
That is among the equations given in the choice. That is choice D.
Click to expand...
Eddy

Life is not a multiple choice test. Lev and I are asking you to take PEMDAS, translate the goofy and not carefully described process in this problem into mathematical notation, and show WHY the choice of x + 2 MUST be the correct choice.

Both he and I, in different words, are trying to teach you the algebraic way of thinking. If you translate the process described, it is NOT, at least not without work that you have not shown, x + 2.

It is a terrible problem designed to get you to pass a multiple choice test rather than to teach you algebra. Lev and I are desperate to extract a lesson in algebra from it for you.

TRANSLATE THE PROCESS INTO A CORRECT ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSION ACCORDING TO PEMDAS.

Please try to do that before I have a fourth martini and collapse into a drunken puddle that my wife will scorn.
 
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eddy2017 said:
Lev, I really don't know what you mean. I thought we had come to the final result when we went through all the steps and got y= x+2
That is among the equations given in the choice. That is choice D.
Click to expand...
Ok, here's my solution:

If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number, which equation is equivalent to the number game?

Pick a number: x
Add 5 to the number: x+5
Next, multiply 4: (x+5)*4
Subtract 12: (x+5)*4-12
Divide by 4: ((x+5)*4-12)/4

y is the final number:
y=((x+5)*4-12)/4

This is what I was asking for. I don't understand how it wasn't clear.

Now, let's simplify it:
y = (4x+20-12)/4 = (4x+8)/4 = x+2.

That's it.

Am I the only one here who thinks that this question is perfectly valid and not ambiguous?
The "pick a number and do stuff" riddle is the thing. Everybody understands how the steps work: you compute the result of step n and then do step n+1. I have no idea how this is difficult or ambiguous.
 
lev888 said:
Ok, here's my solution:

If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number, which equation is equivalent to the number game?

Pick a number: x
Add 5 to the number: x+5
Next, multiply 4: (x+5)*4
Subtract 12: (x+5)*4-12
Divide by 4: ((x+5)*4-12)/4

y is the final number:
y=((x+5)*4-12)/4

This is what I was asking for. I don't understand how it wasn't clear.

Now, let's simplify it:
y = (4x+20-12)/4 = (4x+8)/4 = x+2.

That's it.

Am I the only one here who thinks that this question is perfectly valid and not ambiguous?
The "pick a number and do stuff" riddle is the thing. Everybody understands how the steps work: you compute the result of step n and then do step n+1. I have no idea how this is difficult or ambiguous.
Click to expand...
I did not say that it was more than slightly ambiguous in context. Pick a number. Add 5 to the number. Multiply the resulting sum by 4. From the resulting product, subtract 12. Divide the resulting difference by 4. What is that quotient? You and I agree that is the intended meaning. But my formulation uses the device of English grammar called objects. What was written dispenses with objects. It could also mean

Add 5 to the number
Multiply the number by 4
Subtract 12 from the number
Divide the number by 4.

Furthermore, starting with an arithmetic problem seems to me a goofy way to introduce an algebra problem We do arithmetic as computations; in algebra we work with expressions and equations.
 
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lev888 said:
Ok, here's my solution:

If x represents the starting number, and y represents the final number, which equation is equivalent to the number game?

Pick a number: x
Add 5 to the number: x+5
Next, multiply 4: (x+5)*4
Subtract 12: (x+5)*4-12
Divide by 4: ((x+5)*4-12)/4

y is the final number:
y=((x+5)*4-12)/4

This is what I was asking for. I don't understand how it wasn't clear.

Now, let's simplify it:
y = (4x+20-12)/4 = (4x+8)/4 = x+2.

That's it.

Am I the only one here who thinks that this question is perfectly valid and not ambiguous?
The "pick a number and do stuff" riddle is the thing. Everybody understands how the steps work: you compute the result of step n and then do step n+1. I have no idea how this is difficult or ambiguous.
Click to expand...
Correction: The "pick a number and do stuff" riddle is a thing.
 
The problem is relatively simple yet exciting, and it is a sort of a game that the author needs help with. The game starts with selecting a number and then adding 5 to it, then multiplying the same with the 4, followed by the subtraction of 12 from the value and finally divided by the 4, giving you a rather fantastic answer.
The listed game rules are to be applied to solve the problem and calculate the y by selecting the x as a number of your choice. There is a lot of trial and error for each equation given; therefore, following the game rules, the method concerns a way hectic and therefore, to solve you have to go through each equation which will help you solve the problem and get on the needed equation from the given options.
The problem discussion varies from individual to individual, and the methodology of solving the equation is a bit different and suitable to their ease. The primary debate about the problem-solution goes around solving the equation by the method of the algebra supposition where the x is assigned any value, and it is referenced as the final value.
Several steps are involved in getting the answer and reaching the appropriate equation.
 
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