Question

Find x

-3x + 5 = 43

Answer 1

subtract 5 from each of the sides.

what do you get after that?

Answer 2

38?

Answer 3

yes that is the right side, and on the left side what are you going to get?

Answer 4

0

Answer 5

well, you had -3x+5 on the left side, so when you subtract 5 from the left side, you get

-3x+5 \(\normalsize\color{blue}{ -5 }\)
which simplifies to just
-3x.

Answer 6

So after subtracting 5 from BOTH of the sides, you get

-3x=38

Answer 7

Now, you need to divide both sides by -3.