Write an equation to represent seven fewer than eight times a number is 40

Answer 1

Tricky wording, isn't it? Let's break it down in pieces.

First of all, "fewer" is referring to subtraction, but the hard part is the order. If I said I had 7 fewer apples than my friend Billy, wouldn't I subtract 7 from his total? Same applies here. We'll subtract seven from the "8 times a number".

Next, what is "8 times a number"? I like to use "n" when they call it that, so the result would be 8n. As we saw before, 7 fewer than that would be 8n-7. Finally, the word "is" simply means "equals" (=), so the final answer is...

8n-7=40.