How do you solve #3v+5-7v+18=17#?

1 Answer
Jan 21, 2015

We want to have all the terms involving #v# on one side, and all the known numbers on the other side.

To do so, begin with subtracting 18 from both sides:
#3v+5−7v+18-18=17-18#, which yields
#3v+5−7v=-1#

Then, subtract 5 from both sides:
#3v+5−7v-5=-1-5#, which yields
#3v−7v=-6#

Now we compute #3v-7v= v(3-7)=-4v#

We have finally reached the form
#-4v=-6#, which means that we have all terms involving the variable #v# on the left and all known numbers on the right.

We can divide by 4 on both sides, and get
#-v=-\frac{6}{4}=-\frac{3}{2}#
and finally deduct #v=\frac{3}{2}#.