Question

How do you write an expression for the words, “Divide $144$ by $12$, and then subtract $14$”?

Answer 1

When we are given a statement and are asked to write it as an expression, we first have to figure out the meaning of each word one-by-one. Here, the statement consists of some digits like $144$, $12$, $14$ and some words like “divide”, “subtract”. We have to figure out how they individually are written in the mathematical form and then combine them to make an expression.

Complete step by step solution:
(i)
The given statement is:
“Divide $144$ by $12$, and then subtract $14$” Since we will figure out the meaning of all the terms and how they are written in mathematical form one-by-one, we will first see the word “divide”.

As we know, to divide one number by another number means we are performing division between the two numbers. Mathematically, it is represented by a symbol of division i.e., $\div$ (a dash with a dot above it and below it)

(ii)
As the first half of the statement is “divide $144$ by $12$”, we can see that division is taking place between the given two numbers, $144$ being the dividend and $12$ being the divisor.

When written mathematically, dividend comes before divisor with a division symbol in between.

Therefore, the first half of the statement will look like
$144 \div 12$

(iii)
Now, as the second half of the statement is “subtract $14$”, it means that the result we get from the first half of the statement i.e., the division between $144$ and $12$, we have to subtract $14$ from that.

As we know that the symbol for subtraction is a dash i.e., ‘$-$’, the mathematical expression for the second half of the question will look like:
$- 14$

(iv)
Now, combining everything to represent the full statement, we get:
$144 \div 12 - 14$
Since, it is clear from the statement that first we have to divide and then subtract, we will put parentheses around the division part.
$\left( {144 \div 12} \right) - 14$

Hence, the expression for the words “Divide $144$ by $12$, and then subtract $14$” is $\left( {144 \div 12} \right) - 14$

Note: In algebra, the numbers and alphabets are written as it is as they are constants and variables respectively. Any other word present in the statement other than this must hold some meaning so that it can be changed to its respective symbol. Like here, “divide” and “subtract” were given.