We are going to solve this linear equation problem step by step: 5x - 2 = 3x + 18
First we need to rearrange like terms. 5x - 2 = 3x + 18 see how the terms with variables and the terms with no variables are separated.
when rearranging like terms you need to put the terms with variables next to each other on the left side and same for the constant numbers but on the right side. Ex: 3x - 5x = 5 + 3you realized that all of the similar terms are in together on each side it means that it is ready to be solved, but do not forget to always change the sign to their opposites when you rearranged them.Ex: -7x will turn into 7x when it is placed at the left side
Now that we know how to rearrange like terms we need to rearrange the given equation. 5x - 2 = 3x + 18, the 3x and the 5x are separated so we need to move the 3x to the left side but before we do, we need to change the positive 3x into a negative 3x and move it next to the 5x. So the equation now will be 5x - 3x = 18 + 2
We are done rearranging the equation and now we can solve it like any other problems. 5x - 3x = 2x and 18 + 2 = 20 put it back together so it will turn into 2x = 20 now that there are no more numbers to add we can divide the coefficient to both sides. 2 is the coefficient so divide it to 2x and 20 it will become 1x and 10 1x is equivalent to x because a variable automatically has a value so it can be just an x so the final answer is x=10