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 x + 5.1 − 5 = −6

SOME SOLUTIONS FROM THE CLASS1

1. You can never find an x that would make that statement because no matter what, the
absolute value would still equal a negative number. This is not possible because an
absolute value is a distance away from 0 and a number cannot be a negative distance
away from 0.

2. Once you solve it and have the absolute value alone, it equals -1. An absolute value can
never equal a negative number.

3. You can never find x because the answer is negative and an absolute value problem with a
negative after the equal sign is not possible.

4. Because that would make the absolute value of −25 x + 5.1 = −1 which is not possible
because absolute value is the distance from 0 to a number on the number line. Therefore
it 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 is
impossible 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 negative
distance from zero, which is the absolute value. For example, there is no such thing as
negative inches.

9. Because when absolute value is equal to a negative number there is no solution, and
that’s because there isn’t a way something can move a negative distance, and absolute
value 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 9
solutions that I picked to share were totally random.
If the question asked
“Explain why the solution to 2 x − 5 < −2 has no solution”
A good solution would read:

Let’s consider what the absolute value function does. It “strips” the number inside of the
absolute value symbols of its negative sign. For example −3 = 3 , while 3 = 3 . Geometrically, the
absolute value of a number represents the distance that number is away from the origin on the
number line. Hence the value of anything must be zero or positive.

So for a problem to ask when 2 x − 5 < −2 , it is essentially asking us when 2 x − 5 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 x − 5 could ever be negative. Hence no value of x could ever
satisfy 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: