How do you write "the difference of 17 and 5 times a number" as an algebraic expression?

1 Answer
Mar 8, 2018

#(17-5)*x# or #12*x#

Explanation:

When working with word problems, the order of the operations given to you are done left to right unless pairing words such as difference, product, quotient, and sum of. In the word problem, "the difference of" tells us that the following numbers will be subtracted from each other (in order) before that difference is used in the expression. Then that difference will be used in the following operation, "times a number" where I called said number x.