The doctor recommended Avery has 11 milligrams of iron per day. By how much did she exceed the doctor’s recommendations if she ate a bowl of shellfish containing 16 milligrams of iron?
x = milligrams of iron recommended per day = 11 mg
y = milligrams of iron in a bowl of shellfish = 16 mg
The excess in the consumption of iron is the difference between what she ate and what was recommended. Then, the appropriate algebraic operation is the subtraction.