Question 596333
Your problem is:
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{{{(x + 2)/2 = 14/16}}}
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It's not necessary to do this now, but let's begin by simplifying the right side of the equation. The fraction of 14 over 16 can be reduced to 7 over 8 by dividing both the numerator and the denominator by 2 to reduce the equation to:
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{{{(x + 2)/2 = 7/8}}}
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We can now get rid of all the denominators by multiplying both the left and right sides of this equation by 8, which is a common denominator because the denominator 2 on the left side is also a factor of 8. Multiplying both sides by 8 results in:
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{{{(8*(x + 2))/2 = (8*7)/8}}}
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On the right side of the equal sign the 8 in the numerator cancels with the 8 in the denominator as follows:
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{{{(8*(x + 2))/2 = (cross(8)*7)/cross(8)}}}
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and we are left with just 7 on the right side as follows:
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{{{(8*(x + 2))/2 = 7}}}
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Then on the left side we can divide the 2 in the denominator into the 8 in the numerator. The result of this division is 4 and the left side reduces as shown below:
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{{{4*(x + 2) = 7}}}
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Do the distributed multiplication on the left side by multiplying the 4 times each of the terms in the parentheses to get:
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{{{4x + 8 = 7}}}
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Get rid of the 8 on the left side by subtracting 8 from both sides as shown:
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{{{4x + 8 - 8 = 7 - 8}}}
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On the left side the +8 and the -8 cancel each other. And on the right side the 7 and the -8 combine to give -1. The result is:
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{{{4x = -1}}}
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Finally, we can solve for x by dividing both sides by 4. On the left side this results in the 4x becoming just 4 and on the right side we get the fraction as shown:
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{{{x = -1/4}}}
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And that is the answer to this problem. I hope this helps you to understand the problem a little better and you can see a process by which it can be solved.