Answer to Question #233353 in Algebra for sjmd

Question

Lawrence is reading part of a novel for Literature class. He estimates that he can read two pages each minute. He has twenty pages left to read in his assignment. He considers pages that he has left to read as negative values and the pages he reads beyond the requirement as positive values.

Answer 1

Concept: 

The positive integers will be used to refer to sheets he reads beyond the requirement as positive values.

The negative integers will be used to refer to sheets he has left to read.

Let the number of sheets left to read be x

x and the number of sheets he reads beyond the assignments be y

The required equation which gives total reading time will be time, 

$t=\frac{−x}{2}+\frac{y}{2 }$

[Note that x

x is a negative integer, so, −x

-x will be positive and reading speed is two sheets per minute]