Solution to Contest #4

Four into a number is the product of the square root of the number and two-and-a-half.

"Into" means "divide," but the order is reversed. So "four into a number" is translated into "x / 4"

"is" becomes "="

"product" means a multiplication

"Square Root" is the . . . . . (sorry, this blog does not have the symbol for the square root) SQR

"two-and-a-half" becomes "2.5"

So the English is translated into this equation:

x / 4 = sqr(x) * 2.5

If we clear the fraction (multiply both sides by 4), we get:

x = sqr(x) * 10

Squaring both sides:

x^2 = x *100

Divide both sides by "x":

x = 100