Question

How do you solve for x:

x-2(x+10)=12

I tried distributive property and combining like terms but I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

First multiply x-2x-20=12 because infront of 2 there's a (-) sign so you need to distribute that as well. Now x-2x=-x, so you write,

-x-20=12

When you take 20 on the other side, you get -x=12+20=32
Multiply by (-1) and you get x=-32.

Proof:
-32-2(-32+10)=12
-32-2(-22)=12
-32+44=12
12=12

Answer 2

Thank you! that really helped. I realized that what I did was I forgot when I was doing the distributive property, to multiply 2(10). Thanks again

Answer 3

Hehe, dont worry. Practice makes perfect!