How do you solve 7x + ( - 2x ) + 12= 2x + ( - 2x ) - 47x+(2x)+12=2x+(2x)4?

2 Answers
Jun 17, 2017

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

First, remove the terms from parenthesis being careful to manage the signs of individual terms correctly:

7x - 2x + 12 = 2x - 2x - 47x2x+12=2x2x4

Next, combine like terms:

(7 - 2)x + 12 = (2 - 2)x - 4(72)x+12=(22)x4

5x + 12 = 0x - 45x+12=0x4

5x + 12 = -45x+12=4

Then, subtract color(red)(12)12 from each side of the equation to isolate the xx term:

5x + 12 - color(red)(12) = -4 - color(red)(12)5x+1212=412

5x + 0 = -165x+0=16

5x = -165x=16

Now, divide each side of the equation by color(red)(5)5 to solve for xx:

(5x)/color(red)(5) = -16/color(red)(5)5x5=165

(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(5)))x)/cancel(color(red)(5)) = -16/5

x = -16/5

Aug 6, 2018

x=-16/5

Explanation:

In this instance, the parenthesis are unnecessary, thus we have

7x-2x+12=2x-2x-4

We can combine the constants on the left and right, respectively to get

5x+12=-4

Next, we can subtract 12 from both sides to get

5x=-16

Lastly, we can divide both sides by 5 to get

x=-16/5

Hope this helps!