SOLUTION: 4 less than d how do I know what d is or how do I find out. these symbols and letters are confusing. 4 is four d is d 4 less than d would it be a or 1? could you please help m

Question 448046: 4 less than d how do I know what d is or how do I find out. these symbols and letters are confusing. 4 is four d is d 4 less than d would it be a or 1? could you please help me solve this step by step.
Answer by solver91311(24713) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

You aren't making sense the way you are presenting your question. Are you trying to say "4 is less than

" or are you trying to represent a quantity that is 4 less than

?

4 is less than

is a quantity that is 4 less than

In the first case you are simply saying that

is some number larger than 4. It could be 4.000000000000000001 (or as close to 4 as you like without actually being 4) or it could be 40 gazillion. You don't know, and at this point you don't care.

In the second case you are saying that there is a relationship between

and

such that whatever

happens to be

is exactly 4 less. So if

happens to be 1 for example, then

is 4 less than that or -3. Or if