So first, you have to remember the order of operations. That means that whatever is in the parentheses is what has to be done first However, because one of the numbers in the parentheses is a variable and the other isn't, we can distribute instead Therefore, 3(12+4x) distributes by multiplying the 3 into both numbers in the parentheses. So we get 36+12x Now the equation is 20=8+36+12x Now, bring all numbers without variables on the left side
