Explanation: "the quotient" means to divide. "the quotient of 14" means 14 is going to be divided by something. So we can write: 14 ÷ The something it will be divided by is "the difference between a number and -7". Lets call "a number" n . "the difference" means we are going to subtract something from n and what we are going to subtract is a − 7 . We can write this as: n − ( − 7 ) Putting this together gives: 14 ÷ ( n − ( − 7 ) ) Or 14 n − ( − 7 )