document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1174949>Question 1174949</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> y = (a - x) / (2a - x)\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Solve for x in terms of y and a.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Not sure how to solve.<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #800463 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><B>math_tutor2020(3817)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><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=800463\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> <font color=black size=3><BR>\n" );
document.write( "\"Solve for x in terms of y and a\" means that your teacher wants you to get x all by itself, and have some expression with y's and/or a's on the other side.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Currently we have x on the right side and it's buried in a somewhat complicated fraction.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "What we can do is multiply both sides by (2a-x) to move that term over. Then we apply distribution.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "y = (a-x)/(2a-x)<BR>\n" );
document.write( "y(2a-x) = a-x<BR>\n" );
document.write( "y*2a+y(-x) = a-x<BR>\n" );
document.write( "2ay - xy = a-x\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "After doing those steps, let's get all of the terms that have 'x' in them to one side. Everything else gets to the other side.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "2ay - xy = a-x<BR>\n" );
document.write( "2ay - xy+x = a-x+x<BR>\n" );
document.write( "2ay - xy+x = a<BR>\n" );
document.write( "2ay - xy+x-2ay = a-2ay<BR>\n" );
document.write( "-xy+x = a-2ay<BR>\n" );
document.write( "x-xy = a-2ay\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Note how we can factor out x from the left side. We're using the distributive property. After factoring, divide both sides by (1-y) to fully isolate x\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "x-xy = a-2ay<BR>\n" );
document.write( "x(1-y) = a-2ay<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<font color=red>x = (a-2ay)/(1-y)</font>\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "We've reached our goal of getting x all by itself on one side. The other side consists of some combination of 'a's and 'y's in which we are applying arithmetic operations to them. <BR>\n" );
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