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Rewrite the Condition into the Block You Need

Some questions ask for an expression rather than the letters -- a ratio x/y, a sum over a product, a reciprocal sum -- and some systems hide the letters inside a repeated block such as 1/x. Instead of solving for each letter, reshape the given condition until it produces exactly that block and substitute it whole, or rename the repeated block as a new unknown and solve the simpler system it makes. Sometimes the value comes out though the letters are never pinned down; when the blocks themselves are solved, the original letters can be recovered from them.

Builds on: Say It in LettersProportion and Proportional Division

Progression (8)