Simplify.
If d = –3, evaluate –d.

Question

Simplify.
If d = –3, evaluate –d.

skullpatrol · Answer

Any ideas?

anonymous · Answer

have you tried doing this problem?
@Konongr

skullpatrol · Answer

@Konongr  are you still there?

kainui · Answer

I'm so lost right now where am i

skullpatrol · Answer

Your're in the black hole :)

anonymous · Answer

I took this test and got a 20% so i must be doing something wrong

anonymous · Answer

My obvious anwser was -3

skullpatrol · Answer

You need to understand what a variable means.

skullpatrol · Answer

@Konongr  what does it mean to you?

kainui · Answer

So the idea behind variables is that you just replace exactly and only what that thing is with whatever letter it has.

So if I say x=534 and then I also say x+x, then you replace the x's and can write:
534+534

just like that.

In this case you have d=-3. So if they say -d, if you replace d with -3, since they're equal, what do you get?

-(-3) which is the negative of a negative, which is positive, so 3.

anonymous · Answer

A Variable is a letter that is a number that is unknown @skullpatrol

skullpatrol · Answer

variable: A symbol used to represent one or more numbers.

anonymous · Answer

That is awesome thanks man @Kainui

skullpatrol · Answer

As @Kainui  said replace the letter with the number. @Konongr

anonymous · Answer

|dw:1384491137361:dw|

kainui · Answer

Variables aren't always unknown. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't, it just depends on the situation.

anonymous · Answer

They can be known if the situation gives a whats the word? Like where it says A= Something x= Something @Kainui

skullpatrol · Answer

By definition a vari-able must be -able to vary.

kainui · Answer

I don't know, I'm drawing a blank on what that could be. Showing numbers as letters lets you change the numbers a lot easier while keeping the relationship between the other numbers the same. So maybe you wanted to show that the area of a table is 3 feet by 6 feet, but sometimes you add an extra part to the end to make it 10 feet long. So instead of writing out the area as 3*6 or 3*10 you can just say the area is 3*L, and then depending on the day, replace L with 6 or 10.

Of course, that's a completely ridiculous example, I hope it gets the idea across! =D

anonymous · Answer

Thanks helps a lot :D @Kainui

skullpatrol · Answer

variable: A symbol used to represent one or more numbers.

There are two situations:

#1) A symbol used to represent one number,
 this is the case when we have an "unknown" fixed number.

#2) A symbol used to represent more than one number,
this is when the variable varies in value.