Inactive Tutor answered • 09/12/12
The thing you want to do for this type of equation is find the result for each variable which is the letter that will make it equal to the other. The easiest way is to substitute a number for one of the variables for instance.
3(2-5)=2(a+5) for this we substitute the 2 for the q now we would distribute and get this
6-15=2a+10 now combine like terms on each side
-9 = 2a+10 once we have all the like terms combined on both sides we want the a to be alone so we subtract 10 from both sides
-9-10=2a+10-10
-19=2a once you are at this point you just ned to find a so divide 2 by both sides
-19/2=2a/2
-9.5=a now that you have a substitute the number for a in as well as the original number you used for q and they both sides should be the same as such
3(2-5)=2(-9.5+5)
6-15= -19+10
-9 = -9 Hope this helps you for the future.
