Construct an expression using the values of the variables explicitly at first, then adjust it to get 10.
Example Expression: xyz -y+z/2 -19
Practice makes perfect
Since we know the values at which the variables will be evaluated after we construct our expression, we can start by using these values explicitly in any way we want and calculating the numerical result. Then, we can adjust it to equal 10. Let's do an example involving all four basic operations.
-2( -3)( 4)-( - 3)+4/2
In the expression above we used the values given for the variables x = -2, y = -3 and z = 4. Let's simplify the expression following the order of operations.
Since the result is 29 we still need to subtract 19 to get 10, as required. Let's do this to our original expression.
-2( -3)( 4)-( - 3)+4/2-19
Now we write the variables instead of their corresponding values to obtain our final expression.
x y z- y+z/2-19
We could have done this using the four operations in any way we wanted, and after simplifying we could adjust the result as needed. Therefore, there are infinitely many possible solutions fulfilling the exercise requirements, and this is only an example solution.
