Solve: 3(x - 5) = -7x + 12
Step 1: first I distributed 3 into (x-5) so it would come out to be 3x-15 because you multiply the numbers/variables inside the parenthesis by 3.
Step 2: I combined like terms because we have x on both sides and if you combine like terms you get x on one side. 3x-15=-7x + 12
+7x +7x
10x-15=12
Step 3: I got rid of -15 by adding 15 to both sides. 10x-15=12
+15 +15
10x=27
Step 4: Usually you would solve for the last step but in this problem you do not need to solve because 10 does not go into 27 equally so your answer is 27/10.
Thanks Anthony. I like how you laid out the solution in easy to follow steps and left spacing in between to make it more readable.
ReplyDeleteSome suggestions:
1. Because you've picked a template with white text on a black background, this post was very hard to read because starting with step 2 you somehow lost the white text. You could either go back and change the color of that text, or change your template so that you don't have a black background.
2. For step 2 you said "you combined like terms" but you didn't explain how you figured out how to add 7x to both sides. Remember, your reader doesn't know anything about how to solve this problem, so you need to be very specific.
3. Similarly, it would've been nice if you would've told them why you added 15 to both sides.
4. Be careful with your wording on step 4, you still are doing something in this step (in this case, dividing both sides by 10). Even though 10 doesn't go into 27 evenly, you are still dividing - and solving - to get 27/10.
Overall, nice job. Keep up the hard work.