Question

How do you solve `5( x + 4) = 40`?

Answer 1

`x=4`

Explanation:

`5(x+4)=40`

Open the brackets.

`5x+20=40`

Subtract 20 from each side.

`5x=20`

Divide both sides by 5.

`x=4`

Answer 2

`x=4`

Explanation:

Expand:
`5x+20=40`

Simplify:
`5x = 40-20`

`5x=20`

Divide:
`x=20/5`

`x=4`

Answer 3

`x=4`

Explanation:

We can divide both sides by `5` to get

`x+4=8`

Next, to completely isolate the `x` term, we can subtract `4` from both sides to get

`x=4`

There is another way of going about this, however. We could have just distributed the `5` on the left to get

`5x+20=40`

We would subtract `20` from both sides and divide both sides by `5`, and we would still get `x=4`.

Hope this helps!