obsessedAndre

iwantfood ---

I was curious too about those questions, and followed along with your example. However, I'm not sure I understand it:

Math's never been my strongest point, so maybe I'm wrong, but:

You said:
42+k=n^2 -- makes sense
k-n^2=42 - How? If 42+k = n^2 then doesn't 42+k-n^2 = 0 and k-n^2 = -42?
so if n = 6, k = -6?
and you said:
k-n^2=42
k+36=42 -- How does k-6^2 = 42 become k + 36 = 42? I thought that according to PEMDAS, k-6^2 is equivalent to k-(6^2) or k-36 = 42, in which case k is 78.
And when I did the substitution of x with 1 ended up w/... = k + 42 = n^2
n^2 = 36
so k + 42 = 36 or k = - 6?

Now I know this can't be the right answer, because -6 - 6 is -12, which is not an option. What am I not getting here?

Thanks to anyone who can help
Andre