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 Algebra 2: How to write a proper explanation
Explain to someone who doesn’t know a lot about math why you can never find an
x
which would make the following statement true:
25 5.1 5 6
 x
− + − = −
SOME SOLUTIONS FROM THE CLASS
1
 
1.You can never find an x that would make that statement because no matter what, theabsolute value would still equal a negative number. This is not possible because anabsolute value is a distance away from 0 and a number cannot be a negative distanceaway from 0.2.Once you solve it and have the absolute value alone, it equals -1. An absolute value cannever equal a negative number.3.You can never find x because the answer is negative and an absolute value problem with anegative after the equal sign is not possible.4.Because that would make the absolute value of 
25 5.1 1
 x
− + = −
which is not possiblebecause absolute value is the distance from 0 to a number on the number line. Thereforeit can not be a negative.5.An absolute value can never be equal to a negative number.6.The other side of the equation is negative, leaving no possible solution to the problem.7.An absolute value is the distance a number is from 0 and having a (-) distance isimpossible so there cannot be a negative absolute value product/sum/quotient/etc…8.There can be no solution because when solving for
 x 
, there can never be a negativedistance from zero, which is the absolute value. For example, there is no such thing asnegative inches.9.Because when absolute value is equal to a negative number there is no solution, andthat’s because there isn’t a way something can move a negative distance, and absolutevalue is distance on a # line.General problems with these explanations:
1
Almost no one in the class got full credit for this problem. But that was expected because I haven’t“taught” you to write good explanations yet. (That is the reason why I made question 27 “extra credit.”Surprisingly, most all of you wrote really cogent and wonderful explanations for that problem.) The 9solutions that I picked to share were totally random.
 
If the question asked 
“Explain why the solution to
2 5 2
 x
− < −
has no solution”
 A good solution would read:
Let’s consider what the absolute value function
does
. It “strips” the number inside of theabsolute value symbols of its negative sign. For example
3 3
− =
, while
3 3
=
. Geometrically, theabsolute value of a number represents the
distance
that number is away from the origin on thenumber line. Hence the value of 
anything 
must be zero or positive.So for a problem to ask when
2 5 2
 x
− < −
, it is essentially asking us when
2 5
 x
−
is negative,because anything less than -2 is negative. Since we know that
anything 
must be zero or positive,we know that there is no way that
2 5
 x
−
could ever be negative. Hence no value of 
 x
could eversatisfy the inequality.What are the qualities that make this a good solution?Is there a way to improve the solution?If I were to write a proper solution to the question 26 from the assessment, I would now say:
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