SOLUTION: Please solve and show work. Any input on this problem would be <b>GREATLY</b> appreciated! I have been stuck on this on for a while now. {{{a/(4a + 15)}}} - 3= -2

Algebra ->  Equations -> SOLUTION: Please solve and show work. Any input on this problem would be <b>GREATLY</b> appreciated! I have been stuck on this on for a while now. {{{a/(4a + 15)}}} - 3= -2      Log On


   

Question 37574: Please solve and show work. Any input on this problem would be GREATLY appreciated! I have been stuck on this on for a while now.
a%2F%284a+%2B+15%29 - 3= -2
Answer by kev82(151) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Hi,
When I was doing my GCSEs a long time ago, there was only one question on the paper I couldn't solve and it was almost the same as this one.
Firsst I'm going to assume that you're happy that we're really trying to solve

Fractions in algebra are really horrible, so we try and get rid of them if we can. Here we can multiply everything by to get rid of the fractions, so let's do that.




The problem when multiplying by algebraic expressions is that we may accidently multiply by zero, which leads to a pointless equation. So here when we multipled by we need to check we didn't multiply by 0. Well if a=-5 then so everything is ok.
You should also put the answer back in and check everything works, but I'll leave that to you.
Hope that helps,
Kev