-4 x = 16 the first step is x = -4 What property is this

Answer 1

The Multiplicative Identity property

In order to solve for x when given

-4x = 16

you need to isolate x, which can be done by multiplying both sides by the multiplicative inverse of -4, which is -1/4. Multiplying by -1/4 is also equivalent to dividing by -4

(-1/4) * -4x = 16 * (-1/4)

x = -4