Question 78793

9 less than woodchuck is woodchuck - 9.  You want to subtract 9.
The thing you started with is a-5

9 less than a-5 is (a-5)-9

That ought to come out to a-14 for your answer.  Here is more
explanation:

On a number line, this means you started at some place whose name is a-5,
and you went 9 steps to the left.

For example let's say a was 100
Then a-5 is 95
You want to know what is 9 less than 95

94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86

The answer would be 86 in that case

The answer about (a-5) is a-5-9 is a-14

It still works if a=100 because 100-14=86.