Question

What is the first step In solving a question with variables on both sides

Answer 1

Answer:

• Identify the variable term on one side and subtract it from both sides.

Step-by-step explanation:

We assume the question relates to terms containing the variable you want to solve for.

In general, you want to rearrange the equation so there is only one term containing the variable of interest. This can be accomplished by identifying the variable term(s) on one side of the equation and subtracting that from both sides of the equation.

For example, consider ...

  ax + b = cx + d

First step

Terms ax and cx are on opposite sides of the equal sign. If we're solving for x, we need to remove one of those terms. We can do that by subtracting cx from both sides of the equation:

  ax -cx +b = cx -cx +d  . . . . . showing the subtraction

  x(a -c) +b = d . . . . . . . . . . . . .the simplified result of the subtraction

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Additional comment

Please note that the coefficient of the variable is now (a-c). This will be positive if the term we subtracted (cx) had the smaller of the two coefficients (c < a). While not essential, this is a convenient choice to make when choosing which term to subtract.