Question

After 4 apples were added to a sack, there were 3 times as many apples in the sack as before. How many apples were in the sack before the addition?

Answer 1

Hello!
So, your equation for this problem would be—
x+4=3x
To solve this equation, you need to move the variables (x) to only one side of the equation.
So, you would use the Subtraction Property of Equality.
x+4=3x
-x -x
—————
4=2x
Now, your new equation is 4=2x.
Using the Commutative Property, we can reverse this to—
2x=4
Your next step is to find X. To do this, we can divide each side by 2.
2x=4
———
2 2

____

2/2=1. 4/2=2
Thus your new equation is—

X=2.
As a conclusion, there were 2 apples in the sack before you added the extra ones.

To check this, you could do
2+4= 6
6/3= 2

There were 2 apples originally in the sack.

Hope this helped!
Regards,
KayEmQue