6 times the sum of a number and 3 is equal to 42. What is this number?
The phrase a number means an arbitrary variable, let's call it x.
The sum of a number and 3 means we add 3 to x:
x + 3
6 times the sum:
6(x + 3)
The word is means an equation, so we set 6(x + 3) equal to 42 to get our algebraic expression of:
6(x + 3) = 42
If the problem asks you to solve for x, then you type this equation into our search engine and you get:
x = 4
The phrase a number means an arbitrary variable, let's call it x.
The sum of a number and 3 means we add 3 to x:
x + 3
6 times the sum:
6(x + 3)
The word is means an equation, so we set 6(x + 3) equal to 42 to get our algebraic expression of:
6(x + 3) = 42
If the problem asks you to solve for x, then you type this equation into our search engine and you get:
x = 4