Essay about Mathematics

If the cost of a cell phone has decreased 400% during the past 10 years, does that correspond to a cost decrease of four times? Explain your answer as though you were talking to someone who has never taken algebra.

I’m not 100% if I understand the question correctly, but I think it does. Some of the math terminology is confusing me a little, because the text states that “of” usually means multiplication. Anyway, if the cost of a cell phone has decreased 400% during the last 10 years, it does correspond to a cost decrease of four times. Think of it this way, 10 years ago, if the cost of a cell phone was $500 and now the cost is only $100, you can use the following formula to see it visually. 500 –x = 100. (x=400). If we add 500 to both sides of this equation, and then subtract 100 from each side, we are left with 400.

What are the four steps for solving an equation? Should any other factors be accounted for when solving an equation? Should any factors be accounted for when explaining how to solve an equation? Explain your answer.

Four steps for solving an equation are, 1. Combining like terms; using the distributive property to clear any parentheses on each side of the equation. 2. Isolating the terms that contain the variable; using the addition property of equality to get all of the terms containing the variable to one side of the equation and all of the other terms on the other side of the equation. 3. Isolate the variable you want to solve for; using the multiplication property of equality to isolate the variable by multiplying each side of the equation by the reciprocal of the number in front of the variable(this could also be divide each side).

4. Substitute your answer into the original equation; check the solution by substituting it in the given equation. The order of operations which is PEMDAS and stands for, “Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction,” should still be a factor during the process. If you are working with multiple operations, solve them from left to right.