Question

I am thinking of a number if you multiply my number by 4 add -4 to the product and then take one third of the sum the result is -6 find my number

Answer 1

The situation can be rewritten as:

$\frac{(4x) - 4}{3} = - 6$

We can simplify this by multiplying 3 (denominator) to both sides of the equation, which simplifies to:

$(4x) - 4 = - 18$

The negative 4 cancels out by adding 4 to both sides, resulting in:

$(4x) = - 12$

To get x alone, we divide both sides by 4.

$x = - 3$