When 'solve' doesn't mean 'solve'.

There are a lot of posts out there that start with "can you solve this...?" or simply "solve", followed by an expression, for example

The issue I have with this is that it doesn't make sense. I'll show you what I mean: the above is just a number. so I could have just as well written

This may look like a pedantic example, but if you are struggling with maths or making yourself understood with maths, then although you might say '7' to the second example, what is there actually to 'solve' and how does that apply to the first example?

The word to use in this case is not "solve", but "simplify". Even better would be to say "simplify to a single fraction with an integer denominator". You may even argue that you "knew what was meant", but how confusing is it for those who didn't?

Just for argument, let's pretend that to make it a 'solve' problem you add and an 'x':

so that now you can find x is "7" and so the "answer" is the number on the right.

When questions start getting more difficult, it may even work:

The answer to the first question is "0": correct! The answer to the second question is "5": correct!. Can you find another answer to the first question? Err, "5"? Correct! and another answer to the second question? Err, "0": No, that doesn't work at all! How confusing is that?

Maths is about finding patterns, but it is very exact. If you use incorrect language with excuses such as "you know what I mean" or point out incorrect patterns, you are causing more problems than you are solving.