Two Step Equations
Two Step Equations - How it Works - Video
Example 1
Example 1:
We need to get the variable, x, alone on one side of the equals sign. The equation is 6 + 2x= 14. The first step is subtract 6 from the left side because the 6 is positive. Then we need to subtract 6 from the right side, as well. 6 minus 6 is 0 and 14 minus 6 is 8. So now we have 2x = 8. Next is divide 2 on each side to cancel the 2 in front the x. 2 divide 2 is 1 and 8 divided by 2 is 4. So now we have x = 4.
Example 2a
Example 2a:
We need to get the variable, x, alone on one side. In this case we added x to both sides of the equation 5 - x = 3 to get 5 = 3 + x. We did that so the variable is positive. Next to we need to subtract 3 on both sides since the 3 is positive. So 3 minus 3 is 0 and 5 minus 3 is 2. Now we have 2 = x. The variable is is always written on the left side so we write the answer as x = 2.
Example 2b
Example 2b:
This time we are going to move the 5 to the other side. So we subtract 5 on both sides, which gives us -x = -2. Now since we have solving for x and not -x, we need to divided both sides by -1 so we have a coefficient of 1 for x, and our result is x = 2.
Two ways to do the same problem.
Example 3
Example 3:
We need to get the variable, x, alone on one side. In this case, we need to multiply by x on both sides so we can get rid of the x on the bottom. Since x divided by x = 1, we multiply the left by x so that we can get rid of the x on the bottom. Now we have 63 = 9x. Therefore we divide by 9 on both sides to cancel out 9 on the right side. 63 divided by 9 is 7 and 9 divided by 9 is 1. The result is 7 = x and we change it to x = 7.
Example 4
Example 4:
We need to get the variable, x, alone on one side. The first step is to add 5 to both sides because we need to get rid of the -5 on the right side. -5 plus 5 is 0 and 19 plus 5 is 24. Now, we have 24 = 2x. To get rid of the 2 on the 2x we need to divide both sides by 2. So, 24 divided by 2 is 12 and 2 divided by 2 is 1. Now, we have 12 = x. Just switched it around to x =12 and we have it.