Example

Translating 'seven less than four times the number of quarters'

Some word problems require translating phrases that combine two or more operations. For example, finding an algebraic expression for the number of dimes when "the number of dimes is seven less than four times the number of quarters."

If we let qq represent the number of quarters, we first substitute this to get "77 less than 44 times qq." The phrase involves two operations: times indicates multiplication (4q4q), and less than indicates subtraction (77 subtracted from 4q4q). Translating this step-by-step into algebra yields the expression 4q74q - 7.

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Updated 2026-04-21

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