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2009-09-29 How To Write An Explanation in Math

You can never find an x that satisfies the equation -25x + 5.1 - 5 = -6 because an absolute value can never be equal to a negative number. Absolute value represents the distance from zero on the number line, so it must be equal to or greater than zero. Solving the equation would result in the absolute value being equal to -1, which is not possible. Therefore, there is no value of x that can make the statement true.

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3K views3 pages

2009-09-29 How To Write An Explanation in Math

You can never find an x that satisfies the equation -25x + 5.1 - 5 = -6 because an absolute value can never be equal to a negative number. Absolute value represents the distance from zero on the number line, so it must be equal to or greater than zero. Solving the equation would result in the absolute value being equal to -1, which is not possible. Therefore, there is no value of x that can make the statement true.

Uploaded by

samjshah
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Algebra 2: How to write a proper explanation

Explain to someone who doesn’t know a lot about math why you can never find an x which would
make the following statement true: −25 x + 5.1 − 5 = −6

SOME SOLUTIONS FROM THE CLASS1

1. You can never find an x that would make that statement because no matter what, the
absolute value would still equal a negative number. This is not possible because an
absolute value is a distance away from 0 and a number cannot be a negative distance
away from 0.

2. Once you solve it and have the absolute value alone, it equals -1. An absolute value can
never equal a negative number.

3. You can never find x because the answer is negative and an absolute value problem with a
negative after the equal sign is not possible.

4. Because that would make the absolute value of −25 x + 5.1 = −1 which is not possible
because absolute value is the distance from 0 to a number on the number line. Therefore
it can not be a negative.

5. An absolute value can never be equal to a negative number.

6. The other side of the equation is negative, leaving no possible solution to the problem.

7. An absolute value is the distance a number is from 0 and having a (-) distance is
impossible so there cannot be a negative absolute value product/sum/quotient/etc…

8. There can be no solution because when solving for x, there can never be a negative
distance from zero, which is the absolute value. For example, there is no such thing as
negative inches.

9. Because when absolute value is equal to a negative number there is no solution, and
that’s because there isn’t a way something can move a negative distance, and absolute
value is distance on a # line.

General problems with these explanations:

1
Almost no one in the class got full credit for this problem. But that was expected because I haven’t
“taught” you to write good explanations yet. (That is the reason why I made question 27 “extra credit.”
Surprisingly, most all of you wrote really cogent and wonderful explanations for that problem.) The 9
solutions that I picked to share were totally random.
If the question asked
“Explain why the solution to 2 x − 5 < −2 has no solution”
A good solution would read:

Let’s consider what the absolute value function does. It “strips” the number inside of the
absolute value symbols of its negative sign. For example −3 = 3 , while 3 = 3 . Geometrically, the
absolute value of a number represents the distance that number is away from the origin on the
number line. Hence the value of anything must be zero or positive.

So for a problem to ask when 2 x − 5 < −2 , it is essentially asking us when 2 x − 5 is negative,


because anything less than -2 is negative. Since we know that anything must be zero or positive,
we know that there is no way that 2 x − 5 could ever be negative. Hence no value of x could ever
satisfy the inequality.

What are the qualities that make this a good solution?

Is there a way to improve the solution?

If I were to write a proper solution to the question 26 from the assessment, I would now say:

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