5x+3(x+4)=28

Question

this is a distributive property 

Answer 1

Hello, Elasa ---

Look again at your equation. The 3 in front of the parentheses means that you have to multiply 3 times anything inside the parentheses. That is the distributive property.

Let's see how it works:

        5x + 3(x + 4)  = 28       Multiply 3 times x and 3 times +4, and remove the parentheses

        5x + 3x +  12  = 28

Now add the 5x and 3x terms:

                 8x   +   12  = 28

Subtract 12 from both sides:

                         8x   =  16

Now divide both sides by 8 to leave a single x on the left:

                           x = 2 

This is your solution. Check it by plugging 2 in for each x in the original:

     5(2) + 3(2 + 4)  =  28

             10 + 3(6)  =  28

                10 + 18  = 28