How do you solve #4x=-14#?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2018

Use division such that #x# is alone on one side of the equation, and you will find that #x=-7/2=-3.5#

Explanation:

To solve for #x#, we will divide both sides of the equation by a constant value. This will bring both sides of the equation down by an equal amount, and #x# will ideally be alone on the Left-Hand Side (LHS).

In the problem statement, #x# is multiplied by 4. Therefore, we should divide both sides by 4 to get #x# alone on the LHS:

#(cancel(4)x)/cancel(color(red)(4))=(-14)/color(red)(4)#

#rArr x=(-14)/4#

Now, we can simplify the fraction on the Right-Hand Side (RHS) to get our answer:

#color(green)(x=-7/2=-3.5)#