First distribute the 1/3 to the "a" and the 5, which leaves you with 8= 1/3a+ 5/3.
Then subtract 5/3 from both sides. 8-5/3, which solves out to 19/3= 1/3a. Now times both sides by 3/1 (the reciprocal of 1/3 to get it to cancel out) 19/3*3. The 3's cancel out and you are left with 19=a.
Step-by-step explanation: In order to solve this question, we must first take out the parenthesis, we can do this by taking 1/3 and multiply it by a and 5. This will give us 8=1/3a+5/3, with this we can subtract 5/3 on both sides of the equation, which will then give us, 19/3=1/3a. Last, we can divide 19/3 by 1/3 giving us 19 as our final anwser. a=19
