Question

How do you evaluate the expression $\dfrac{y-3}{x-4}$ when $x=6$ and $y=2$ ?

Answer 1

Hint: To evaluate the expression $\dfrac{y-3}{x-4}$ when $x=6$ and $y=2$ , we need to substitute the values of x and y that are given, in the expression. Then we will simplify the resultant to get the required value.

Complete step by step solution:
We have to evaluate the expression $\dfrac{y-3}{x-4}$ when $x=6$ and $y=2$ . We can see that the given question contains variables. These variables are x and y. We usually have to find the value of the variables. But here, we are given the value of the variables and need to simplify the expression to get a constant. We have to substitute the given values of x and y in the given expression. Hence, we can write the given expression as
$\dfrac{2-3}{6-4}$
Let us do the subtraction operation in the numerator and denominator. We will get the above equation as
$\Rightarrow \dfrac{-1}{2}$
We can also write $\dfrac{-1}{2}$ in decimal notation. We will get the value as -0.5.
Hence, the value of the expression $\dfrac{y-3}{x-4}$ when $x=6$ and $y=2$ is $\dfrac{-1}{2}$ or -0.5.

Note: Students must be very careful when solving these types of questions. Some questions contain a lot of operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In some cases, they may need to use the BODMAS rule to simplify the expression. We can either leave the value (in case the value is a fraction) as it is or represent it in decimal notation. In some questions, we will have to find the value of the variables. Variables are symbols whose values are unknown.