Question 182487
Hi Lin,

When trying to solve an equation, you try to isolate the variable ('y' in this case) by itself.  In this case it'll be a multi-step process.
14 = 2/3(9y - 15)
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Given your equation, the first step will be to get rid of the parentheses by multiplying 2/3 by (9y - 15).  To do this, you need to multiply each of the elements in the parentheses by 2/3:

14 = (2/3 * 9y) - (2/3 * 15)
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This simplifies to:

14 = (6y) - (10)
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No more fractions -- we like to see that.  =)  Next step is to isolate 6y by itself - to do this we'll add 10 to both sides of the equation:

14 (+ 10) = 6y - 10 (+ 10)
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This simplifies to:

24 = 6y
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Next we divide both sides by 6 (so we're left with just 'y'):

24 (/ 6) = 6y (/ 6)
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This simplifies to:

<b>4 = y (or y = 4)</b>
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So <b>4</b> is our answer.  To double-check it, we can substitute '4' for 'y' back in our original equation:

14 = (2/3 * 9y) - (2/3 * 15)
14 = (2/3 * 9<b>(4)</b>) - (2/3 * 15)
14 = (2/3 * 36) - (2/3 * 15)
14 = (24) - (10)
14 = 14
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Looks good!  Hope this helps.