-9=-h/12 + 5 = ?

Question

How do you solve this problem?

Answer 1

I'm going to assume you're solving for h. It's a little confusing with 2 equal signs. But if you were solving for h, you would move the 5 to the other side of the equation by subtracting it (which would be -14=-h/12). and now since both sides are negative, you can just get rid of the negatives my multiplying the whole equation by negative. (if only one side of the equation was negative-this would be futile) so now you have 14=h/12. now you just have to multiply both sides by 12 in order to get rid of the fraction. (h/12 * 12 gives you h which is what you want, so you have to multiple the other side by 12 as well.) you'd get h = 12*14, or h=168

Answer 2

The key to solving problems such as these is to isolate the variable (I think that is the right term).  In other words: you want to get h by itself on one side.

1)     -9 = -h/12 + 5

Lets start off by getting rid of the 5 on the right side of the equal sign.  Remember, what you do to one side you must do to the other to keep the problem balanced.  Since it is a positive 5, you will want to subtract 5 from both sides.  Doing so will give you:

     -14 = -h/12

2) Now, you want to get the h by it self on the right side, so we need to remove the fraction.  To do that, you need to multiply -h/12 by 12, (and remember you must do it to both sides) which would look something like this:

12 * -14 = -h * 12   <- excuse the mess of all that.
1               12    1

3)     You will be left with: -168 = -h   You do not want your variable to be negative, so proceed to divide both sides by -1 which will then give you your answer:

168 = h

4) Check!

-9 = -168/12 + 5
-9 = -14 + 5
-9 = -9