One Step Equations - How to Solve Them

Equations- How it Works - Video

Example 1

Example 1:

In order to solve for the equation, we need to get the variable or x in this case by itself. The equation is 4 + x = 20. Since 4 is positive (+), we can write it like +4 or plus 4. Another word for plus is add, and the inverse of adding is subtracting. So we have to subtract 4 on the left side. +4 minus 4 equals zero. Since we subtracted 4 on the left side of the equals sign, we need to do it on the right side as well. 20 minus 4 equals 16. This leads us to x=16.

Example 2

Example 2:

In order to solve for the equation, we need to get the variable or x in this case by itself. The equation is 10 = x - 3. Since 3 is negative (-), we can write it like -3 or minus 4. Another word for minus is subtract, and the inverse of subtracting is adding. So we have to add 3 on the right side to cancel the -3. -3 plus 3 equals zero. Since we added 3 on the right side of the equals sign, we need to do it on the left side as well. 10 plus 3 equals 13. This leads us to 13 =x, but the majority of the time, we write with the variable on the left, x=13.

Example 3

Example 3:

In order to solve for the equation, we need to get the variable or x in this case by itself. The equation is 10x= 40. If we read the equation, it says, 10 times x equals 40. Another word for times is multiply and the the inverse of multiplication is division. So we have to divide the left side by 10 to get rid of the 10 so we can get x by itself. 10 divided by 10 is 1. Now we have divide 40 by 10, which is 4. So we now have 1x = 4. We don't need to write the 1 so the answer is x = 4.

Example 4

Example 4:

In order to solve for the equation, we need to get the variable or x in this case by itself. The equation is x/3= 1. If we read the equation, it says, x divided by 3 equals 1. The inverse of division is multiplication so we need to multiply by 3 on the left side to cancel the 3 on the left side. The result is of 3 and 1/3 is 1. Now we need to multiply the right side by 3 to keep the equation equal. 15 times 3 equals 45. Now the equation is 1x=45. We don't need to write the 1 in front of the x so the answer is x=45.

Live Worksheet

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