Question 154685
When you are "solving" something like:
5b+2(b+1)=16
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What they are asking you to do is to "isolate" the unknown (in this case, b) to one side of the equation -- doesn't matter which side.
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5b+2(b+1)=16
Start by distributing the 2 to each term inside the parentheses:
5b+(2b+2)=16
Combining like-terms on the left:
7b+2 = 16
Subtracting 2 from both sides:
7b = 14
Finally, divide both sides by 7:
b = 2 (this is your answer)