It’s called a literal equation. The problem doesn’t state which variable to solve for, but the assumption here is that it is x. Solving literal equations is a basic part of mathematics courses.
I’m a mathematician and I can’t recall a time I’ve ever heard the term “literal equation.” When I was in grade school the instructions were always “solve for x” if x was the variable being solved for.
There’s 3 variables and 1 equation. This is unsolvable.
Since we’re just making shit up anyway
Assume k=0 and n is the last natural number. Solved.
It’s called a literal equation. The problem doesn’t state which variable to solve for, but the assumption here is that it is x. Solving literal equations is a basic part of mathematics courses.
I’m a mathematician and I can’t recall a time I’ve ever heard the term “literal equation.” When I was in grade school the instructions were always “solve for x” if x was the variable being solved for.
Maybe it’s not universal but in school literal equation basically meant there were letters instead of numbers.
It’s the term we use for instance when going from the equation of a line like y=3x+2 to lines in general y=ax+b (a and b in ℝ)
And i agree it’s a lot better to specify to solve for x (because you can solve for anything or have multiple variables).
Although x being a variable, and solving for it would be the most logical assumption.