How do you solve 4x1=5x+1?

1 Answer
May 31, 2015

4x1=414x=4x4

5x+1=515x=55x

Given

4x1=5x+1

We have

4x4=55x

Multiply both sides by 4 and divide both sides by 5x to get

20=4x5x=(45)x

Now take logs of both sides to get

xlog(45)=log(20)

Divide both sides by log(45) to get

x=log(20)log(45)=log(4)+log(5)log(4)log(5)

log(2)0.30103

log(4)=2log(2)0.60206

log(5)=1log(2)0.69897

x0.60206+0.698970.602060.69897

=1.301030.09691

13.425