SOLUTION: I am having trouble with writing out the equations that are in word form. Please help me. -Write an equation and solve: four more than twice a number m is the sum of 4 and 8.

Click here to see ALL problems on Equations

Question 584520: I am having trouble with writing out the equations that are in word form. Please help me.
-Write an equation and solve:
four more than twice a number m is the sum of 4 and 8.
Found 2 solutions by josmiceli, bucky:
Answer by josmiceli(19441) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Subtract from both sides

Divide both sides by

Answer by bucky(2189) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The first clue in this problem involves the words "a number m." This tells you that you have an unknown number represented by the letter m. And the requirement to "write an equation and solve" means that you will need an equation that involves the letter m in some way, and you will use that equation to solve for the unknown number m. In other words you will work with the equation and in doing so will find the value for m.
.
The words "twice a number m" means 2 times m or in shortened form 2m. "four more than twice a number m" therefore just tells you to add 4 to 2m. In algebraic form this is written as 4 + 2m. And the words "is" means equals. Finally, "the sum of 4 and 8" is 4 + 8.
.
Putting this all together we can write the equation:
.
4 + 2m = 4 + 8
.
You now want the term 2m (that is the term that contains the unknown) to be by itself on the left side of the equation and all the numbers to be grouped on the right side. So you need to get rid of the 4 on the left side. To do that, just subtract 4 from the left side. But whatever you do to the left side, you must also do to the right side in order to keep both sides "in balance." In other words subtract 4 from the left side and also subtract 4 from the right side as follows:
.
4 - 4 + 2m = 4 - 4 + 8
.
When you do the subtracting on both sides, you notice that the +4 and the -4 on each side cancel each other out and you are left with:
.
2m = 8
.
At this point you can solve for m by dividing both sides by 2 to get:
.
m = 8/2 = 4
.
So you have written the equation as 4 + 2m = 4 + 8, and you have solved this equation to find that m equals 4.
.
Hope this helps you to understand this word problem. Don't let the words confuse you. You just need to break the words in the problem into small groups of words and translate these parts into math terms. Takes some practice, but eventually you'll begin to make sense of word problems. Good luck with your studies.