.17x+13.28=x. What is x

Answer 1

Always start these problems by putting all x values on one side and all numbers on the other side. Let's start by moving the x values to the right and numbers to the left.

I have to move 0.17x to the right. In order to do this, I subtract it from both sides. After subtracting, my equation should look like:

13.28 = 1x - 0.17x

Nice - all numbers are on the left and all variables are on the right. I can now combine my x values - they're like terms. My equation now looks like:

13.28 = 0.83x

Now, I need to know what 1x is. But I have 0.83x, so I should DIVIDE by 0.83. Remember, a number divided by itself is 1, which is what we want. Remember to divide BOTH sides of our equal sign by 0.83. Our new equation should look like

13.28/0.83 = 0.83x/0.83

Plug this into your calculator and you should get:

16 = 1x

Therefore, x = 16