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You can put this solution on YOUR website!
\n" ); document.write( "Here, copied exactly, is the response from the other tutor:
\n" ); document.write( "Literally
\n" ); document.write( "That is NOT a good way to teach students how to learn to do algebra.
\n" ); document.write( "I have seen many students struggle with learning algebra because they do what that tutor says -- translating the words into a mathematical statement word for word.
\n" ); document.write( "That is NOT the right thing to do.
\n" ); document.write( "It is important to understand what the whole written phrase means; you should not do the translation word for word.
\n" ); document.write( "The phrase \"four more then three times n\" means you started with 3 times n and added 4 more. So the correct translation is \"3n+4\" instead of \"4+3n\".
\n" ); document.write( "It is true that, algebraically, those two phrases are equivalent. So setting up the problem using either one will not cause a problem.
\n" ); document.write( "But what if the phrase were this: \"four less than three times n\"
\n" ); document.write( "A word-for-word translation of that would give you \"4-3n\".
\n" ); document.write( "But that is not what the whole phrase says. The phrase says you started with the 3n and then subtracted 4. So the correct translation is \"3n-4\".
\n" ); document.write( "And the two mathematical phrases \"4-3n\" and \"3n-4\" are not equivalent.
\n" ); document.write( "So DO NOT translate written statements word for word into mathematical statements. It is necessary to understand the real meaning of the written words in order to write the correct mathematical statements.
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