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| Question 129869:  twice the difference of a number and 3 is equal to three times the sum of the number and 5
 Answer by bucky(2189)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let x represent the unknown number. .
 The difference of a number and 3 is x - 3
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 The sum of the number and 5 is x + 5
 .
 Twice the difference of a number and 3 is therefore 2(x - 3)
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 Three times the sum of the number and 5 is therefore 3(x + 5)
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 These last two terms are equal. In equation form this is:
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 2(x - 3) = 3(x + 5)
 .
 Perform the distributed multiplications on both sides. On the left side multiply the 2 times
 each of the terms in the set of parentheses. On the right side multiply the 3 times each
 of the terms in its set of parentheses. After these two multiplications the equation is:
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 2x - 6 = 3x + 15
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 Get rid of the 3x on the right side by subtracting 3x from both sides and you have:
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 -x - 6 = 15
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 Get rid of the -6 on the left side by adding 6 to both sides to get:
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 -x = 21
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 You are trying to solve for +x. To change the left side of this equation to +x multiply
 both sides by -1 and you change the equation to:
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 x = -21
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 Hope this helps you to understand the problem.
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