What is the first step needed to solve 4 over 7 multiplied by x minus 5 equals negative 13 ? (1 point)

Question

Astro · Answer

I am going to also write the equation out to make it easier.

$\dfrac{4}{7}$ $\times$ (X-5= -13)

Astro · Answer

I made parenethisis just so you didn't get confused between the time sign and the other "X"

Vocaloid · Answer

The way the problem is described I would write it as

(4/7)x - 5 = -13 rather than have the parentheses around x - 5. If they wanted to specify the parentheses they would have most likely said “4/
7 multiplied by the quantity x - 5”.

That being said, to solve this, we would first want to isolate (4/7)x. How would we do that? How would we eliminate the -5?

Astro · Answer

@surjithayer wrote:

it can be written both ways. $$\frac{ 4 }{ 7 }(x-5)=13$$ or $$\frac{ 4 }{ 7 }x-5=13$$

Remember it's a negative, not a positive.

Vocaloid · Answer

I checked a few other websites w/ the same problem and it seems like they want the 5 outside the parentheses

but you are right, the wording of the problem could be less ambiguous

Vocaloid · Answer

we should probably double-check with the OP - is the 5 inside or outside parentheses?

@54007GD

mhanifa · Answer

I've seen the same question with answer options:

A) Subtract 13 from both sides
B) Divide both sides by 7
C) Add 5 to both sides
D) Multiply both sides by 4

By analyzing the options we can see A, B and D don't fit either interpretation of the question. 
A. We would add 13 to both sides
B. We would multiply both sides by 7
D. We would divide both sides by 4

We are left with option C. It means the question is:
$$\frac{ 4 }{ 7 }x-5=-13$$

maths89898 · Answer

Well first, you'd need to multiply as it is the most important

mhanifa · Answer

@maths89898 wrote:

Well first, you'd need to multiply as it is the most important

You would isolate the term with the variable and to do so you need to add 5 to both sides as first step. The next step would be to multiply both sides by 7.

maths89898 · Answer

okay