Write the algebra expression for nine less than the product of four and a number x

This is not correct because they each started with the same size piece of stick.  Scott's pieces are shorter than Vivian's pieces because the same starting size was broken into 7 pieces where Vivian's was only broken into 5 pieces.  1/5 is bigger that 1/7.     The question is confusing at the beginning.  It is not grammatically correct.