Solve for w. 20 − 3w = –5w − 20

Question

This is for school please help it would be awesome if you would help

Answer 1

To solve for a variable, first you need to simplify an equation as much as possible. One thing you can do to simplify an equation is what’s called “combining like terms.” Like terms are terms that have the same variable, or no variable. In this equation, you have 4 terms. On the left side, you have:

20

-3w

On the right side, you have:

-5w

-20

Neither side has like terms, because one term has no variable, and the other term has w. To solve for w, we want all the terms with w on one side, and everything without a w on the other. We can rearrange this equation by adding or subtracting the terms on both sides. For instance, let’s move 20 from the left side to the right like below:

20 - 3w = -5w - 20

20 - 20 - 3w = -5w - 20 - 20, notice both sides we subtracted 20. On the left side, 20 - 20 “cancels out” to get 0.

-3w = -5w - 40

Now move -5w from the right side to the left. This time, because -5w is negative, and we want to cancel it out on the right side, we need to add 5w to both sides, like below:

-3w = -5w - 40

-3w + 5w = -5w + 5w - 40

2w = -40. Notice here that -3w + 5w came out to be 2w. This is because when you add like terms, you add their coefficients, or the numbers in front of the variable. -3 + 5 = 2

Now that everything with a w is on one side, and everything without it is on the other, we just need to divide both sides by the number in front of the w. This is because 2w means 2 x w, and we want to figure out what 1 w is equal to.

2w = -40

2w/2 = -40/2

w = -20

Answer 2

20 − 3w = –5w − 20

+3w +3w

20 = -2w - 20

+20 +20

40/-2= - 2w/-2

w= -20