2/5=w-3/2 remember that to solve we want to isolate 1 w one side by itself also remember that we can do anything to an equation as long as we do it to both sides (except divide by zero)
2/5=w-3/2 so we add 3/2 to both sides to get rid of the 3/2 2/5+3/2=w+3/2-3/2 2/5+3/2=w+0 2/5+3/2=w
make the bottom numbers the same the number is 10 2/5 times 2/2=4/10 3/2 times 5/5=15/10
4/10+15/10=w 4/10+15/10=(4+15)/10=(19)/10 w=19/10 so the steps are: 1. add 3/2 to both sides 2. make the denomenators of 2/5 and 3/2 the same so we can add them