Translate an English Phrase to an Algebraic Expression In the following exercises, translate the phrases into algebraic expressions.

Question

Dushko has nickels and pennies in his pocket. The number of pennies is four less than five times the number of nickels. Let n represent the number of nickels. Write an expression for the number of pennies.

Answer 1

P = 5N -4

where P = the number of pennies

and N = the number of nickels

or you can do it with x and y

y = 5x -4

with y= the number of pennies

and x = the number of nickels

or use any letters you want, but the above are the most popular ways to do it. x and y let you graph it more easily, using the x and y axes. P is popular for financial problems, plotting P on the y axis.