20x - 7 = 16x + 5 (This is the same equation, I have just rearranged it to my preference)
First, we need to get x on one side, then isolate x.
We have x on both sides, so we need to get them on one side.
20x - 7 = 16x + 5
Subtract 16x from both sides.
20x - 16x = 4x 16x - 16x = 0
4x - 7 = 5
Now we need to isolate x. Since 4x is being subtracted by 7, we need to add 7 to cancel it out. Add 7 to both sides.
-7 + 7 = 0 5 + 7 = 12
4x = 12
Now that we have isolated x, we need to solve for x. Since x is being multiplied by 4, we need to cancel it out by performing the opposite order of operations. The opposite of multiplying is dividing.
