5x-32/5 simplifies to x-32/5?
I was working on a Khan Academy problem and came across this and completely don't understand how this simplified. I was expecting it to be x-32, with the 5s canceling each other out. However, the answer was x-32/4, I don't fully understand how that happened.
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$\begingroup$Like people have mentioned in the comments, the formatting of the expression is critical.
Taking as you've written it ($5x-32/5$) there's nothing to simplify. Division has a higher precedence than subtraction, so you would divide $32$ by $5$ and your expression remains $5x - \frac{32}{5}$.
If, instead, you're asked to simplify
$$\frac{5x-32}{5},$$
then you would use the distributive property:
$$\frac{5x-32}{5} = \frac{1}{5}(5x-32) = \frac{1}{5}(5x) - \frac{1}{5}(32) = x - \frac{32}{5}.$$
The formatting of this expression makes it clear that you're to divide $(5x-32)$ by $5$, rather than just the $32$ by $5$. Another way you can declare this intent is to put the expression in parentheses like this: $(5x-32)/5$.
If the answer really did have a $4$ in it, I'm stumped.
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