How do you translate the word phrase into a variable expression: 10 plus the quotient of a number and 15?

1 Answer
Feb 17, 2016

#10+x/15#

Explanation:

We set up this problem by taking the words and translating them into a math problem.

The "#10# plus" is pretty simple to translate into symbols; it just becomes #10 + ...#. The next part of the sentence is more confusing, but if we break it down it should be do-able.

So first, what is a quotient? That seems like an important thing to understand. It turns out that a quotient is the solution to a division problem, like this: #x/z=q#, where #q# is the quotient.

So now we understand what a quotient is. We still need to figure out what "a number #(x)# and #15#" means. A quotient refers to a division problem, so the #x# and the #15# are part of a division problem. The way we would set up a division problem that reads as "#(x)# and #15#" is to write it as #x/15#.

So if we put it together, we have #10 + x/15#