Question

How do you solve `3x - 5 = 1`?

Answer 1

Perform operations to each side of the equation to isolate `x` and find that
`x = 2`

Explanation:

Performing operations like addition and division to each side of an equation maintains the validity of the equality. We use these in a particular order to isolate `x`.

First, we use addition to isolate the term containing `x`.

`3x - 5 = 1`

`=> 3x - 5 + 5 = 1 + 5`

`=> 3x = 6`

Now, we use division to remove the coefficient from the `x` term.

`=> (3x)/3 = 6/3`

`=> x = 2`