How do you solve # –5x – 7 < 28#?

1 Answer
Aug 13, 2015

Get rid of the constant first, then the coefficient.

Explanation:

Let's look at the equation.

#-5x-7 < 28#

We want to solve this inequality step by step.

First, get rid of the constant. In this case, it would be the #7#. We can do this by adding 7 to both sides.

#-5x < 35#

Looks a lot easier now! We just multiply both sides by #-5# to get the answer.

There's a catch, though. When you multiply both sides of an inequality by a negative coefficient, you have to flip the inequality. So,

#-5x < 35#
becomes,
#x > -7#

which is the answer.