document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=551233>Question 551233</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> how do you solve for the unknown of x/3 -7/8 = 2/5(x + 15/4) any help would be greatly appreciated. </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #359560 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=bucky><B>bucky(2189)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=bucky><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/nopicture.jpg><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=359560\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> Given to solve for x:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29%28x+%2B+15%2F4%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29%28x+%2B+15%2F4%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "There are a number of different things we could do to make the problem a little easier. A lot of students have trouble with fractions, so let's begin by getting rid of the fractions. The right side of the equation may cause us a little trouble, so let's begin by doing the distributed multiplication on the right side. Do that by multiplying <IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=2%2F5 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"2%2F5\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" > times each of the two terms in the parentheses to get:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29x+%2B+%282%2F5%29%2A%2815%2F4%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29x+%2B+%282%2F5%29%2A%2815%2F4%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "When you multiply out the last term on the right side [that is when you multiply <IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=%282%2F5%29%2A%2815%2F4%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"%282%2F5%29%2A%2815%2F4%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" >] you get <IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=30%2F20+ ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"30%2F20+\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" > which is <IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=3%2F2 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"3%2F2\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" >. So you can now write the equation as:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29x+%2B+3%2F2 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x%2F3+-7%2F8+=+%282%2F5%29x+%2B+3%2F2\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Now to get rid of the fractions, we can multiply every term on both sides by the product of all the denominators. That is multiply every term by <IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=3%2A8%2A5%2A2=240 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"3%2A8%2A5%2A2=240\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" >. (We could use 120, but using 240 does not cause a problem).<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "When we multiply by 240 the equation becomes:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=%28240x%29%2F3+-%28240%2A7%29%2F8+=+%28%28240%2A2%29%2F5%29x+%2B+%28240%2A3%29%2F2 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"%28240x%29%2F3+-%28240%2A7%29%2F8+=+%28%28240%2A2%29%2F5%29x+%2B+%28240%2A3%29%2F2\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Now in each of the four terms, let's divide the denominator into the 240 in the numerator to get:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=80x+-%2830%2A7%29+=+%2848%2A2%29x+%2B%28120%2A3%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"80x+-%2830%2A7%29+=+%2848%2A2%29x+%2B%28120%2A3%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Multiply out all the terms and you have:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=80x+-210+=+96x+%2B+360 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"80x+-210+=+96x+%2B+360\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "This is in a form that is more like an ordinary algebraic equation. Start by subtracting 96x from both sides:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=-16x+-+210+=+360 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"-16x+-+210+=+360\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Next add 210 to both sides:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=-16x+=+570 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"-16x+=+570\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Solve for x by dividing both sides by -16 to get:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x+=+570%2F%28-16%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x+=+570%2F%28-16%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "and since both 570 and -16 are divisible by 2 this can be reduced to:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x+=+-%28285%2F8%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x+=+-%28285%2F8%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Or by dividing it out, you can get the decimal equivalent form:<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x+=+-35.625 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x+=+-35.625\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Hope this helps you to understand the problem a little better. Sometimes it helps to make the problem a little easier by getting rid of the fractions, and you can do that by multiplying all terms by a common denominator (the product of all denominators) and then getting rid of each denominator by dividing it into the common denominator.<BR>\n" );
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