How do you solve #8- \frac { 1} { 3} x = 16#?

1 Answer
Mar 14, 2018

Using subtraction and multiplication, you find that #x=-24#

Explanation:

To arrive at the solution, you need to get #x# all alone. The first thing to do is move all addition/subtraction terms to the opposite side of the equals sign as #x#.

For this problem, we need to first subtract 8 from both sides to 'move' the additive part to the right-hand side of the equation, away from #x#:

#8-1/3x=16#
#cancel(8)-1/3x-cancel(8)=16-8#
#-1/3x=8#

Next, we'll divide both sides by -1/3. Dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by its inverse. Therefore, we will achieve the same effect by multiplying both sides by -3:

#-1/3x*-3=8*-3#
#-((-3)/3)x=-24 rArr -(-1)x=-24 rArr color(red)(x=-24#