when solving an equation you want to get the variable by itself, this is a 2 step equation so it will take 2 steps to solve, the first step is to subtract 8 from both sides, you do this because it is the opposite function of what the original equation says, so therefore you are sort of reversing the equation until you get the variable by itself. so when you subtract 8 you get 5x = -10 the next step is to divide both sides by 5 in order to separate 5 from x after you do this you have x by its self and you get x = -2
