-10 - 4(3p - 10) = 18

Answer 1

The equal sign ( = ) is like a balance point and you must keep the equation balanced by performing the same operation on both sides of the " = " sign.

Ultimately you want the equation to say "p = (some number)" so that means we need to take away all the things on the left side of the equation that are not "p" so that "p" is left by itself. But, as mentioned above, you need to do that in a way that keeps the equation balanced.

Start with "-10". To remove it, we can add 10 to both sides of the equation:

-10 (+ 10) - 4(3p - 10) = 18 (+ 10) or

-4(3p - 10) = 28

Now, to get rid of the "-4", we can divide both sides by "-4":

-4(3p - 10)/(-4) = 28/(-4) or

3p - 10 = -7

Now, to get rid of the "-10", add 10 to both sides:

3p - 10 (+ 10) = -7 (+ 10) or

3p = 3

Now to get "p" by itself, divide both sides by "3":

3p/3 = 3/3 or

p = 1