Answer:
We can introduce a variable ( a letter representing an unknown ) to help us solve this question.
Let χ = "a number..."
We can rewrite the sentence in the following way:
7( χ + 2 ) = 8
To solve for χ , we can first distribute 7:
7 ∗ χ + 7∗(2) = 8
7χ + 14 = 8 ⇐ since 7 times 2 is 14
Let's get χ by itself first. We do so by subtracting 14 from both sides of the equation:
7χ + 14 - 14 = 8 - 14
7χ + 0 = -6 ⇐
7χ = -6 ⇐
The last number in our way is that 7. Let's divide both sides by 7 ( which is the same as multiplying both sides by 1 / 7 ) to figure out what χ is:
7χ ∗ ( 1 / 7 ) = -6 ∗ ( 1 / 7 )
χ ∗ ( 7 / 7 ) = - 6 / 7 ⇐
χ ∗ ( 1 ) = - 6 / 7 ⇐
χ = - 6 / 7
Therefore ( we can also use ∴ to represent the word "therefore" ) our number in question is -6 / 7
Step-by-step explanation: