Math problem help!!

Question

A student thinks that y=6+x means that y=6 and then you add x. What would you tell this student?

Answer 1

Y is the sum of 6 + x.

Y can equal 6 only if x equals 0

But if x equals anything other than 0, then y can not equal 6.

Practice plugging in different values of x to see how it changes y.

Ex:

if x = 2

then

y = 6 + 2

y = 8

Answer 2

Sort of. Make sure that the student understands that y = 6 means just that, that y's value is 6.

If y = 6 + x, that means that y's value is now 6 plus another variable.

If we're talking about graphing, y = 6 is s horizontal line, while y = 6 + x is not. Saying x = 2 and therefore y = 8 does not just move our horizontal line over; it goves us a single point.