Answer
$-2\gt x$
Work Step by Step
Each side of the diagram represents one side of the equation. The bar separating the two sides represents the inequality sign.
The left side of the equation is $-9$.
- The left side will include 9 red tiles. Each red tile represents -1, so -9 is represented by 9 red tiles.
The right side of the equation is "4x-1".
- A green tile represents a variable such as x. The left side of the diagram will include 4 green tiles since the coefficient of x is 4.
- The right side will include 1 red tile. Each red tile represents -1, so subtracting 1 is represented by 1 red tile.
The steps to solve the equation algebraically mirror the steps using the tiles.
$-9\gt4x-1\longrightarrow$ add 1 to both sides (1 yellow tile)
$-9+1\gt4x-1+1\longrightarrow$ add (remove the zero pairs)
$-8\gt4x\longrightarrow$ divide both sides by 4 (identify identical groups)
$-8\div4\gt4x\div4\longrightarrow$ divide (remove duplicate groups)
$-2\gt x$
