Question

Brandon has a certain amount of pencils, p. Sophie has 7 fewer pencils than Brandon. How do you write an expression that represents how many pencils Sophie has?

Answer 1

Compare the amount of Sophie's pencils to Brandon.

Explanation:

Brandons amount of pencils is `p`
Since Sophie has 7 less than Brandon, that means that she has `(p-7)` pencils.

Answer 2

S = p - 7 pencils

See explanation. The layout is very important for good mathematics

Explanation:

Let Brandon be B
Let Sophie be S
Given that Brandon's count of pencils is p

So
B = p pencils

(Note that units are important and 'pencils' is units of measurement/count)

Then S = p -7 pencils