Question 163683
it appears that there are two unknowns here with one equation.
best you can do as far as i can tell is find a relationship between the two variables.
this is how i interpret the statement
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the statement is:
seven more than the quotient of a number and 5 is the same as 42.
if i let q = quotient of a number and 5, then q + 7 = 42 which results in 
q = 35.
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quotient of a number and 5 means, to me, that if you divide a number + 5 by another number, the result is q.
so, letting y = that other number, that relationship shows up as
q = (x+5)/y
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if q = 35, then substituting (x+5)/y for q gets
(x+5)/y = 35
multiplying both sides of the equation by y gets
x+5 = 35*y
subtracting 5 from both sides of the equation gets
x = 35*y - 5
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that's the relationship.
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if y = 1, then x = 30
if y = 2, then x = 65
if y = 3, then x = 100
if y = 10, then x = 345
etc.
x can be any real number, and y can be any real number except 0 since it is used in the divisor.  given a value of y, you will be able to solve for a value of x.
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to prove, let y = 25
original equation of q + 7 = 42
formula for q is
q = (x+5)/y
y = 25, so
q = (x+5)/25
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original equation is q+7 = 42
substituting for q gets
(x+5)/25 + 7 = 42
multiplying both sides of equation by 25 gets
(x+5) + 175 = 1050
(x+5) = 1050 - 175
x+5 = 875
x = 870
if y = 25, then x = 870.
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to prove that this is correct, we use the known value of y and the known value of x to substitute in the original equation.
y = 25
x = 870
equation is
(x+5)/y + 7 = 42
substituting 870 for x and 25 for y gets
(875/25 + 7 = 42
which becomes
35 + 7 = 42
which becomes 42 = 42
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based on the way the problem is stated, there is no value for x that works by itself.
you have to know y as well as x.
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that's my interpretation of the problem and my solution for it.
hopefully it's what you were looking for.
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