what expression is equivalent to 7x/4 divided by 2x^2

Question

The choices are

7x/4 * 2x^2

 

7x/4 * 1/2x^2

 

7x/2 * 1/x^2

 

7/4x * 1/2x

Answer 1

7x/4 divided by 2x^2 is equivalent to 7x/4 multiplied by the reciprocal of 2x^2:

 

(7/4)(1/2)x^1-2 = (7/8)x^-1 or 7 over (8x) but this is simplified (which is usually what is requested).

 

Of the answers offered, NONE appears to be correct.  A correct ( almost fully simplified) answer is

(7/4)•1/(2x). 

 

The third choice offered, 7x/2 * 1/x^2, is probably the intended answer, but I would prefer to see parentheses around the "x squared" portion, otherwise there's danger that this part would be computed as "reciprocal of x, and then this result is squared" -- which is quite different.

 

Are you sure that the problem, as stated, is precisely duplicated from what was given into your hands?

If so, then I question the correctness of the material you have been given. When typing expressions into some calculators, and into this website, you don't have the facility of numerators above denominators, separated by a horizontal division line; instead, the expressions are presented in a single long line, and the grouping facility of a long division symbol covering a complicated denominator is lost.

 

Comments from other tutors are welcomed.