Question

Arianna and Blair are working on a problem together: Solve x/3 + 8 = -2. Blair thinks the first step is to multiply by 3. Arianna explains that this, not the most efficient way to solve. Explain who is correct and justify your reasoning.

Answer 1

Blair was correct but Arianna is correct too.

Let's see why :

_________________________________ We're gonna solve it from Blair's method .

$\frac{x}{3} + 8 = - 2$

Multiply sides by 3

$x + 24 = - 6$

Subtract sides minus 24

$x = - 6 - 24$

$x = - 30$

_________________________________

The faster way is :

$\frac{x}{3} + 8 = - 2$

Subtract sides minus 8

$\frac{x}{3} = - 2 - 8$

$\frac{x}{3} = - 10$

Multiply sides by 3

$x = - 30$

It is very easier to calculate -2-8 than -24-6 and also it is very easier to multiply -10 by 3 than multiply 8 by 3 and multiply -2 by 3 and then calculate.

So Arianna is correct.

I think this is the correct answer.

Thanks for watching buddy good luck.

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Answer 2

x/3 + 8 = -2

Because x is in a fraction, the most efficient way to solve is to remove the 8 first.

The first step should be to subtract 8 from both sides:

x/3 = -10

Then you would multiply both sides by 3:

x = -30