Help me with this (I'll give or what ever its called)

Negative 5 1/12 + negative 4 1/4 + 6 3/4

Nick has box brads. he uses 4 brads for the first project. nick let’s b represent the original number of brads and finds that for the second project, the number of brads he uses is 8 more than half the difference of b and 4. write an expression to represent the number of brads he uses for the second project.

How do i start to solve? would appreciate a walk-thru! a bird sitting 16ft above the ground in an apple tree dislodges an apple. after how many seconds does the apple land on the ground? (assuming that no branches will interfere with it's fall)