Question

Solve for x. −2(x−3)−2x=18

Enter your answer in the box.

x =

Answer 1

Since you have parentheses on the left side, the first step is to get rid of the parentheses.
To do that, distribute the -2 by x - 3.

Answer 2

You have to follow PEMDAS for this, so start out by distributing in in this equation.

When you distribute -2(x-3) you get -2x+6

So it would be -2x+6-2x=18

Simplify and get -4x+6=18

Subtract 6 from both sides

-4x=12

Divide by -4 on both sides

x=-3

Answer 3

@MaddieLB

Great job of solving the equation step by step, but this is not an example of PEMDAS. PEMDAS is used when you have just numbers and operations between the numbers.

The P in PEMDAS stands for parentheses. Since P comes first in PEMDAS, it is showing you that what is in the parentheses is done first. Here, you can't combine x and -3 since they are not like terms, so you are not able to do P first. Instead, you use the distributive property to handle that. The distributive property is not follewing PEMDAS, but it is what is necessary to simplify such an expression.