Question

Hank is working on simplifying the algebraic
expression 4 - 14 when x = 5. His steps are as follows:
Step 1:45 - 14
Step 2: 20 14
Step 3:6
―
In which step did Hank make a mistake? What should he
have done differently?
(1 point)
Step 2, Hank should've calculated the value of 45 to be
1,024.
Step 3, 2014 should be 20 ÷ 14.
Step 2, Hank should've added 4 and 5 to get 9.
•
Step 1, Hank should've multiplied 4 · 5 instead of
writing 5 as the exponent.

Answer 1

Hank made a mistake in **Step 1**.

The expression he is supposed to simplify is \(4 - 14\) when \(x = 5\), but he incorrectly wrote it as \(45 - 14\).

He should have substituted \(x = 5\) into the expression correctly, which means he should simply evaluate \(4 - 14\).

So the correct approach would be as follows:

1. Start with \(4 - 14\).
2. Calculate \(4 - 14 = -10\).

Thus, the correct evaluation should result in \(-10\).