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Mathematics 29 Online
OpenStudy (anonymous):

5/x+2=x/3

OpenStudy (anonymous):

First, let me ask real quickly is this supposed to be \[\frac{5}{x+2}\] or \[\frac{5}{x}+2\]

OpenStudy (anonymous):

The first one.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Ah, well then in the future you should type that at 5/(x+2) so people know :) So, the first thing we should do whenever an equation has x in the denominator is see if we can do something to get x out of the denominator. So look at the equation and see if you can tell me what we would do to get x out of the denominator.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Multiply it??! I DON"T KNOW?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Multiplying is always a good way to get something out of the denominator. Good idea. So what are we going to multiply both sides by?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

x?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Because that would make the equation x(5/x+2)=3

OpenStudy (anonymous):

But that would give you negative 1 and that's not right.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Actually that would make the equation\[\frac{5x}{x+2} = \frac{x^2}{3}\] Multiplying by x didn't get rid of either denominator.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

But if you multiply the x by it's self since it's division, you get x, so that would cancel them out.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

I'm skipping this problem it's too hard.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Nope. You only cancel out if you multiply and divide by the same thing. On the right side you're dividing by 3 and multiplying by x. That doesn't cancel out.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Don't be a baby. Stick with it.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Excuse me?!

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Doing the hard problems makes you better at math =) Let's finish this.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Don't get good at giving up.

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