What is five less than a number divided by three

Answer 1

"five less than a number divided by three" is ambiguous !

Mathematical expressions are more exact than English expressions.

"five less than a number, divided by three" is clearly (x-5)/3

"five less than a number divided by three" could be (x-5)/3 or it could be x/3 - 5,

Answer 2

This is just asking for an expression so we will not be creating an equation (using an equal sign). Therefore, let's use the information provided to write only the expression.

The first step is to locate and define the variable.The variable is the letter (often x) that represents what we do not know (some unknown number/quantity), but what we will solve for.

It states "What is five less than a number divided by three". As we read through, what is our variable/unknown? It states "what is five less than a number". In this word problem it did not state what that number is. It did not state "What is five less than 23" or "What is five less than 10". Therefore, "a number" is our variable. Let's say, a number will be represented by x.

Next, we need to show what the rest of the expression will be. The beginning part asks "What is five less than a number". Whenever you see "less than" we know we will be subtracting. If a number is represented as the variable x, then five less than x is written as x-5. We have numerically represented the first part of the expression "What is five less than a number". Now we need to represent the rest "divided by three". To show something is divided by three it means doing exactly that symbolically: (x-5)/3

Therefore, the expression representing five less than a number divided by three is:

x-5

3

Answer 3

x/3-5.............................