use one fourth in a sentence

[sa_b]

Hello. How can I use "one fourth" in a sentence like this:
"The number of desks is one fourth of 2x+1." or "The number of desks is one fourth 2x+1."

 

[GoesStation]

Usual usage would write the whole thing in numeric symbols: (1/4)(2x+1).

 

[jutfrank]

If you're speaking, I think it's clearer with of.

 

[GoesStation]

Usual usage would write the whole thing in numeric symbols: (1/4)(2x+1).

I'd use a/one quarter rather than a/one fourth.

The above formula can be read one fourth quantity two x plus one. Your interlocutor has to infer the closing parenthesis ("bracket" in BrE).

 

[Rover_KE]

Usual usage would write the whole thing in numeric symbols: (1/4)(2x+1).

Or (2x+1)
........4

I wonder what x represents.

 

[Skrej]

It marks the spot.

 

[GoesStation]

Or (2x+1)
........4

While that formula is mathematically identical and usually preferable, it would not normally be read as one fourth quantity two X plus one.

 

[GoesStation]

When I was at school many decades ago, I would have read that as 'two-x-plus-one over four'. The hyphens are meant to suggest that I would have read these words as one unit. It would have been clear that I was not saying 'two x plus one-over-four'.

A more formal reading would be [the] quantity two-x-plus-one over four. The term quantity primes the interlocutor to listen for a logical place to mentally insert the closing parenthesis (bracket).