How do you solve \frac { a } { - 4} = - 14?

1 Answer
Dec 11, 2016

The final answer is a = 56

Explanation:

We see that there is an a/-4 on the left-hand side of the equation. To solve this equation, we must isolate the variable. So, we must get rid of the /-4. To "undo" this, we can perform the opposite operation (which in this case is multiplication). But of course, to keep the equality, we must multiply -4 to both sides. So, we get

(-4)*(a/-4) = (-14)*(-4)

This simplifies to a = 14*4 = 56.