Question

Six times the sum of a number and eight is 30. Find the number.

Answer 1

Let the unknown number be "x".

Let's break apart the word problem.

• "The sum of a number and eight" can be written as

$x+8$

• Six times "the sum of a number and eight" can be written as:

$6(x+8)$

• All of this is equal to 30, so we can write the final equation:

$6(x+8)=30$

With the help of a little algebra, we can solve for "x" (the unknown number). The steps are shown below:

$\begin{gathered} 6(x+8)=30 \\ 6x+48=30 \\ 6x=30-48 \\ 6x=-18 \\ x=-\frac{18}{6} \\ x=-3 \end{gathered}$The number is - 3