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Solving one variable equations

Key Takeaways:

  • Our goal is to find x, or isolate it

    • This means to get only x on one side of the equal sign​

  • You need to reverse the operations done to x and their order in which they occur

  • Step 1: Identify the operations and their order

  • Step 2: Reverse the operations from last to first

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Practice Questions

Solve for the unknown variable

1.  5x = 20

2. 10z = 50

3. 8y = 4

4. 4x - 10 = 18

5. -3c + 12 = 27

6. 8m + 3 = 9

7. 51 - 4m = 41

8. 8 - 5y = 23

9. -3n - 5 = 16

10. 170 - 4n = 120
11. (k + 8)/3 = 2

12. 0.75x - 1 = 5

13. (t/3) - 9 = -5

14. 5c/30 = 6

15. [(60x + 5)/20] +7 = 0

16. m/4.4 = -1.8

17. (k - 10)/2 = -7

18. (100/20d-10) + 47 = 44

19. (-12+x)/11 = -3

20. (25x +3)/12 + 67 = 200

Answer Key

1. x = 4

2. z = 5

3. y = 1/2

4. x = 7

5. c = -5

6. m = 0.75 or 3/4

7. m = 2.5 or 5/2

8. y = -3

9. n = -7

10. n = 12.5 or 25/2

11. k = -2

12. x = 8

13. t = 12

14. c = 36

15. x = -29/12

16. m = -7.92 or -198/25

17. k = -4

18. d = -7/6

19. x = -21

20. x = 63.72 or 1595/25

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