sixteen less than one-fourth of a number is equal to - 20. find the number. explain how did you get the steps

Answer: The number is - 16

Step-by-step explanation: We start by assigning a letter to represent the unknown number. Hence, let the number be y.

One fourth of a number, or in this case, one-fourth of y, can also be written as 1/4 times y. That can now be expressed in its simplest form as

y/4.

Sixteen less than one-fourth of y, can also be re-written as

y/4 - 16.

Therefore if the question says, "sixteen less than one-fourth of a number is equal to - 20 ... " we can now write out the question as follows

(y/4) - 16 = - 20

For the left hand side of the equation we can find the LCM as 4, and that can now be written out as

(y - 64) / 4 = - 20

By cross multiplication we now have

y - 64 = - 20 (4)

y - 64 = - 80

Add 64 to both sides of the equation

y - 64 + 64 = - 80 + 64

y = - 16

Therefore the unknown number is - 16