Essay

Translating Similar Pricing Formulas in Store Inventory

You are working as an assistant manager at a local family-owned retail store and are training a new employee to set up automated pricing formulas in the store's inventory spreadsheet. The employee is confused by two very similar-sounding instructions in the operations manual that depend on the original wholesale price of an item, represented by the variable xx.

These instructions are:

  • Instruction A: 'The difference of two times the wholesale price and 8'
  • Instruction B: 'Two times the difference of the wholesale price and 8'

To help the new employee understand and recall the difference between these instructions, write a short training guide that addresses the following points:

  1. State the correct algebraic expression for both Instruction A and Instruction B using the variable xx.
  2. Explain which operation (subtraction or multiplication) is the main or final operation performed in Instruction A, and how the phrase 'the difference of' signals this structure.
  3. Explain which operation is performed first in Instruction B, and why parentheses are necessary in the algebraic expression to ensure the correct order of operations.

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Updated 2026-05-31

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