expressions

Question

Jason paints 1/4 of the area of his living room walls,w, on Monday. On Tuesday  he paints twice as much as he painted on monday.  Write an expression to find the remaining unpainted area.

Answer 1

Let us assume that the total area of the wall to be painted is w.

 

Then Jason painted an area of  (1/4)w on Monday

And he painted (2)(1/4)w on Tuesday

 

So to find the unpainted area, we just take the whole wall area to be painted (which is w) and subtract out the amounts painted on Monday and Tuesday, which are shown above.

 

So the unpainted area (U) would be shown by the following expression:

 

U = w - (1/4)w - (2)(1/4)w

 

We can simplify this expression by factoring out w

 

U = w(1 - 1/4 - 1/2)

 

U = w (1/4) or w/4

 

So all Jason needs to do is paint as much of the wall as he did on Monday, and he will be done!