On 10/26/09, Sue wrote:
> I'm tutoring my nephew and we are learning Algebra. We are
> doing "find the value of expressions" and things were going
> well. (I'm relearning) Here's the problem : x-3/15= ?, x=5,
> the answer we know,24/5 or 4 4/5. I worked it out, (on
> aMath Calculator, you know enter the problem and push
> solve) however, I don't know how to show the solution. I've
> tried to find an online solution, but all the websites want
> you to pay. For some reason I got a mental block with this
> one, the rest we did just fine. I have an answer key, so
> after I backed the answer in, I checked and it was correct.
> I need to be able to show him an equation for this so we
> can do it right next time. Thanks, Sue

Hi Sue,

Well, first convert the 5 into something that has 15 in the
denominator. So you would change the 5 into 75/15. Now
subtract 3/15. This gives you 72/15, which reduces to 24/5 or
4 4/5.

Or else you can break the 5 into 4 + 1. Now just change the 1
into something that has a 15 in the denominator. So now you
have 4 + 15/15. Subtract the 3/15 and you get 4 + 12/15. This
reduces to 4 + 4/5. That is the same as 20/5 + 4/5 which
equals 24/5.

Please be nice to math teachers! We get treated like crap

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