Solve for the indicated Variable V=LWH (for W)

Question

I don't understand how to solve this. Please help. 

Answer 1

Magdalena, something like this looks more difficult than it really is, I promise!

 

Solving for W means that we want W by itself on one side, like W = blah, blah, blah.

 

What if we had 3x + 5 = 20 and wanted to solve for x?  We would subtract 5 from each side to get 3x = 15, then divide by 3 to get x = 5, right?

 

To solve for W, we do the same steps.  We have no other terms to add or subtract away. We only have L, W and H multiplied together.  What's the opposite of multiplication? Division!

 

If we divide both sides by LH, LH/LH cancels out on the left, and we can't divide different variables, so we end up with W = V/(LH).  I only use the parentheses here to show you that the denominator is LH.

 

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

V = LWH

 

Divide by LH on both sides of equation to isolate W.

 

V/(LH) = W