need help with linear eqautions such as 3 x - 19 = - 13

 

my teacher goes through things way to quick no matter how many times you ask him to slow down

Well then, slow down: What is your actual problem? Finding the "x" that solves the equation?

no just the actual way of working out these type equations..

You can use simple algebra here.

 

At the risk to giving you answer...

 

i)Add 19 to both sides of your equation

ii)Divide both sides of your equation by 3

 

These steps will work with any linear equation like the one you have given.

 

In generality you have [math]ax + b =c[/math], where we take a to be non-zero, but b and c could be zero. So follow the steps above

 

i) Add -b to both sides

ii) divide by a (which is non-zero by assumption)

 

I hope that helps. It gets more interesting when you have systems of equations and we can talk about that later on.

Thanks for the Help, after adding 19 to both sides, then dividing by 3 i come up with two answer 7.3 and 2.. now i no the answer is 2.. but how do i get rid of the 7.3..?

need help with linear eqautions such as 3 x - 19 = - 13

/snipped

 

 

You can use simple algebra here.

 

At the risk to giving you answer...

 

i)Add 19 to both sides of your equation

ii)Divide both sides of your equation by 3

 

\snipped

 

3x - 19 = - 13

3x -19+19 = -13 +19

 

Simplify that - you can leave the 3x alone as it has an x and nothing else does, but you have two plain numbers either side of the equals so you can simplify . (BTW you have done this step or the next one wrong if you get the answer you claim)