<PRE><B>Question 1210606</B>
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Here, copied exactly, is the response from the other tutor:&lt;hr&gt;
Literally {{{4+3n=-5}}}, word for word, symbol for symbol&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;hr&gt;
That is &lt;b&gt;NOT&lt;/b&gt; a good way to teach students how to learn to do algebra.&lt;br&gt;
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.&lt;br&gt;
That is &lt;b&gt;NOT&lt;/b&gt; the right thing to do.&lt;br&gt;
It is important to understand what &lt;b&gt;the whole written phrase&lt;/b&gt; means; you should not do the translation word for word.&lt;br&gt;
The phrase &quot;four more then three times n&quot; means you started with 3 times n and added 4 more.  So the correct translation is &quot;3n+4&quot; instead of &quot;4+3n&quot;.&lt;br&gt;
It is true that, algebraically, those two phrases are equivalent.  So setting up the problem using either one will not cause a problem.&lt;br&gt;
But what if the phrase were this:  &quot;four less than three times n&quot;&lt;br&gt;
A word-for-word translation of that would give you &quot;4-3n&quot;.&lt;br&gt;
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 &quot;3n-4&quot;.&lt;br&gt;
And the two mathematical phrases &quot;4-3n&quot; and &quot;3n-4&quot; are not equivalent.&lt;br&gt;
So &lt;b&gt;DO NOT&lt;/b&gt; 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.&lt;br&gt;
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