Question 168609
1/3(2-5p)= -13 

The first thing you want to do is remove the parentheses whenever you see one in any math question regardless of grade.

We can write 1/3(2-5p) as (2 - 5p)/3 and then equate it to -13.

It looks like this:

(2 - 5p)/3 = - 13

We now want to remove that ugly fraction on the left side.

To do so, we multiply both sides of the equation by the LCD, which is 3 in this case.

So, (2 - 5p)/3 times 3 = 2 - 5p.

-13 times 3 = -39.

We now have an equation without a fraction and it looks like this:

2 - 5p = -39

We now solve for P.

Subtracting 2 from both sides of the equation and we get:

-5p = -41

To find p, divide both sides by -5.

p = -41/-5

p = 41/5

If your teacher is looking for a decimal answer, then divide 41 by 5 and your answer for p will be 8.2

I hope that helps.