Question

How do you solve `8x + 3= 19`?

Answer 1

`x=2`

Explanation:

In solving linear algebraic equations like this, whatever you do to one side, you must do to the other.

What we want to do is get "x" by itself on its side of the equation. If this is done correctly, the equation will look like "`x=`number" where the "number" is the answer.

Going through the steps:

1. First subtract 3 from both sides (whatever you do to one side to do the other)
   `8x+3=19`
   `(8x+3)-3=19-3`
   The 3's cancel out on the left side of the = sign, and do 19 minus 3 on the other side.
   `8x=16`

2. Now, divide 8 from both sides. Remember, we're trying to get the "x" value all by itself.
   `8x=16`
   `(8x)/8=16/8`
   The 8's reduce to 1 on the left side of the = sign, and do 16 divided by 8 on the other side.
   `(1)x=2`
   `x=2`

Hope this helped, sometimes I'm not the best at explaining as simply as possible!