How do you solve for x: -3/4 x = 1234x=12?

1 Answer
Jul 21, 2016

x = -16x=16

Explanation:

There are a few ways of approaching the question, but they will all give the same answer.

Method 1. We can get rid of the denominator first, and then divide by -3 as a second step.

(color(blue)(cancel4xx)-3)/cancel4x =color(blue)(4xx)12

(-3)/(color(red)(-3))x = 48/(color(red)(-3)

x = -16

Method 2: multiply both sides by the reciprocal of -3/4

-3/4x xx color(blue)(-4/3) = 12xxcolor(blue)(-4/3)

x = 16

Method 3. Because we have an equation with one fraction o each side, we can cross-multiply,

-3/4x =12/1

-3x = 48

x = -16