Question 708412
To solve this word problem, we need to convert it into an equation.  Let's first break down each part of the sentence:


"The product of 7 and a number" -- product means multiplication.  So, 7 multiplied by some number.  Let's use the letter y to represent the unknown number.  Doing this, we can rewrite this as 7y


"Less than 85" -- less than means subtraction.  So, we will subtract 85 from 7y.  In other words, 7y - 85


"is negative 29" -- is means equals, so = -29


Put all of this together, and we have:


7y - 85 = -29


Now we can solve.  First, add 85 to both sides of the equation:


85 - 85 + 7y = -29 + 85, giving us 7y = 56


Dividing both sides by 7 will give us y, which is our unknown number:


{{{(7y)/7 = 56/(7y)}}} = {{{8 = y}}}


So, our final answer is 8.  8 is the unknown number.