What is three less than the product of 4 and a number is 7 ?

Question

Can you help me this is very hard to figure out please and thank you.

Answer 1

"3 less than the product of 4 and a number is 7"

let x = "a number"

4x-3 = 7

add 3 to both sides

4x = 7+3

4x = 10

divide both sides by 4

x = 10/4

reduce the right side to lowest integer denominator

divide 10 by 2 and divide 4 by 2

x= 5/2

x = 2.5 or 2 1/2 or 5/2

the number is two and one-half

check the answer

plug the answer into the original equation

4(5/2) -3

= 10-3

= 7