Find each value

Question

If lm=3x+2 and mn=x+19 and ln=45 Find x.

Answer 1

I'm guessing the sketch that goes with this problem looks like this:

Notice that segment LN is made of segment LM plus segment MN. That means:

LM + MN = LN

Since LN is "3x + 2", MN = "x + 19", and LN is "45" we can plug each of those into our equation to say:

(3x + 2) + (x + 19) = 45 we can drop the parenthesis:

3x + 2 + x + 19 = 45 we can combine like-terms:

4x + 21 = 45 we can subtract 21 from both sides:

4x = 24 and we can divide both sides by "4" to get:

x = 6