SOLVING LINEAR EQUATIONS

Recall the following:

• A linear equation is a polynomial of degree 1.

• In order to solve for the unknown variable, you must isolate the variable

• In the order of operations, multiplication and division are completed before addition and subtraction.

Example 3: Solve for x in the following equation.

.

Add to both sides of the equation and simplify:

The answer is x = 4.

Check the solution by substituting 4 in the original equation for x. If the left side of the equation equals the right side of the equation after the substitution, you have found the correct answer.

If you would like to test yourself by working some problems similar to this example, click on Problem

If you would like to go back to the equation Table of contents, click on Contents.

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