Transcript for:
Steps to Solve Multi-Step Equations

- WELCOME TO THE VIDEO ON SOLVING EQUATIONS USING MULTIPLE STEPS. THERE WAS A PREVIOUS VIDEO THAT DISCUSSED HOW TO SOLVE ONE-STEP EQUATIONS. LET'S GO AHEAD AND TAKE A LOOK AT HOW WE'RE GOING TO APPROACH THIS. HERE ARE THE STEPS WE'LL FOLLOW TO SOLVE EQUATIONS. STEP ONE, WE'LL USE THE MULTIPLICATION PRINCIPLE TO CLEAR ANY FRACTIONS OR DECIMALS IF THEY ARE PRESENT. STEP TWO, WE'LL MOVE ANY PARENTHESES BY USING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY, AGAIN, IF THERE ARE PARENTHESES. STEP THREE, WE WILL ADD AND SUBTRACT AS NEEDED TO GET ALL VARIABLE TERMS ON ONE SIDE AND ALL CONSTANT TERMS ON THE OTHER. STEP FOUR, WE WILL MULTIPLY OR DIVIDE TO SOLVE WITH A VARIABLE. AND THEN STEP FIVE, WE'LL CHECK OUR SOLUTIONS. SO LET'S GO AHEAD AND GIVE IT A TRY. NUMBER ONE HERE, THERE'S NO FRACTIONS OR DECIMALS, STEP TWO, THERE'S NO PARENTHESIS, STEP THREE, WE WILL ISOLATE THE VARIABLE TERMS. WHAT WE'LL DO HERE IS SUBTRACT 7 ON BOTH SIDES THAT WILL LEAVE US WITH 3X = 36. AND THE LAST STEP, WE NEED TO UNDO THIS MULTIPLICATION, SO WE'LL DIVIDE BOTH SIDES BY 3. AND WE HAVE OUR SOLUTION X = 12. SO TO CHECK THIS 3 x 12 WOULD BE 36 + 7 = 43. AND IT CHECKS. MOVING ON TO NUMBER TWO. AGAIN THERE'S NO DECIMALS OR FRACTIONS, NO PARENTHESES, SO THE FIRST THING WE DO IS TO ISOLATE THE VARIABLE TERM, WE ADD OR SUBTRACT. THIS IS A +4, SO TO UNDO THE +4, WE WILL SUBTRACT 4 ON BOTH SIDES, THIS WILL LEAVE US WITH -2X OR -2X = 6, SINCE THAT SIMPLIFIES TO 0. AND THE LAST STEP, SINCE WE ARE SOLVING FOR X, WE'LL DIVIDE BY A -2. NOW, AGAIN, THE REASON WE'RE DIVIDING HERE IS THE -2 IS ATTACHED TO THE X BY MULTIPLICATION. SO NOW WE SIMPLIFY, THIS WILL GIVE US X AND 6 DIVIDED BY -2 = -3. FOR THE SAKE OF TIME WE WILL NOT CHECK THIS ONE. MOVING ON TO NUMBER THREE, WE DO HAVE A FRACTION INVOLVED, IT IS OPTIONAL BUT WE WILL CLEAR THE FRACTION. AND THE WAY WE DO THAT IS WE'RE GOING TO MULTIPLY EVERY TERM BY WHAT WOULD BE THE COMMON DENOMINATOR, IN THIS CASE IT SHOULD BE 4. SO LET'S FIRST REWRITE THIS. SO WE'RE GOING TO MULTIPLY BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION BY 4 SO YOU CAN THINK OF DISTRIBUTING ON THE LEFT SIDE, NOTICE THE FOURS HERE WOULD CANCEL. WE HAVE -X - 36 = -20. SO THE IDEA HERE IS THIS EQUATION IS EASIER TO SOLVE WITHOUT THE FRACTION INVOLVED. SO NEXT STEP, WE'LL ADD 36 TO BOTH SIDES. THIS WOULD GIVE US -X ON THE LEFT SIDE AND THE RIGHT SIDE WE'D HAVE +16. SO IF WE DIVIDE BOTH SIDES BY -1, WE WOULD HAVE X = -16. OKAY, ON NUMBER FOUR WE HAVE DECIMALS INVOLVED. WELL, IN ORDER TO ELIMINATE THE DECIMALS WHAT WE CAN DO IS MULTIPLY EVERYTHING BY 10. REMEMBER IF YOU MULTIPLY EVERYTHING BY 10 YOU MOVE THE DECIMAL TO THE RIGHT ONE PLACE. SO THE RESULT WOULD BE AN EQUIVALENT EQUATION AND THAT EQUATION WOULD BE 43 = 15X - 50. AND THEN WE FOLLOW THE SAME STEPS, WE WILL ISOLATE THE VARIABLE FIRST BY ADDING OR SUBTRACTING. IN THIS CASE WE'LL ADD 50, THIS WOULD GIVE US 93 ON THE LEFT = 15X ON THE RIGHT, DIVIDE BOTH SIDES BY 15 BECAUSE THIS IS ATTACHED BY MULTIPLICATION. SIMPLIFYING, WE'D HAVE X ON THE RIGHT AND ON THE LEFT WE HAVE 93/15. NOW THIS DOES SIMPLIFY. 93 IS THE SAME AS 3 x 31 AND 15 IS THE SAME AS 3 x 5. SO -- THIS IS SIMPLIFIED TO 31/5. NOW, SINCE THE ORIGINAL EQUATION WAS IN DECIMAL FORM WE MAY WANT TO WRITE THIS AS 6.2. THOSE ANSWERS ARE EQUIVALENT BUT AGAIN, SINCE THE EQUATION WAS IN DECIMAL FORM WE MAY WANT TO LEAVE OUR ANSWER IN DECIMAL FORM. LET'S GO AHEAD AND TAKE A LOOK AT A FEW MORE. NOW, BEFORE WE START TO SOLVE THIS WE CAN SEE THAT THERE ARE SOME LIKE TERMS ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE EQUAL SIGN. SO LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE LEFT SIDE FIRST. 8X - 10X WOULD GIVE US A -2X + 7. AND ON THE RIGHT WE HAVE TWO CONSTANT TERMS, AND 10 + 12 WOULD GIVE US 22. SO ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE 22 + 3X. NOW WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS EQUATION IS WE HAVE THE VARIABLE TERM ON BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION. WELL, IF OUR GOAL IS TO ISOLATE THE VARIABLE, OF COURSE, IT NEEDS TO BE ON ONE SIDE. SO WE EITHER NEED TO SUBTRACT 3X ON BOTH SIDES OR ADD 2X ON BOTH SIDES DEPENDING ON WHAT SIDE YOU WANT THE VARIABLE TO BE ON. I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND ADD 2X TO BOTH SIDES. SO ON THE LEFT SIDE NOW WE HAVE 7 ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE 22 + 5X. SO SINCE X IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE KNOW WHEN WE FINISH WE WANT TO HAVE SOMETHING IN THE FORM OF SOME NUMBER EQUALS X. SO THE NEXT STEP IS TO ISOLATE THE VARIABLE BY ADDING OR SUBTRACTING. SO WE'LL UNDO THIS +22 BY SUBTRACTING 22 ON BOTH SIDES. THIS WOULD GIVE US -15 IS EQUAL TO--THAT'S 0, 5X. LET'S GO AHEAD AND REWRITE THIS OVER HERE. THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE TO ISOLATE THE VARIABLE BY MULTIPLYING OR DIVIDING. IT'S ATTACHED BY MULTIPLICATION SO WE NEED TO DIVIDE BY +5 RESULT WILL BE X OR 1X ON THE RIGHT SIDE, ON THE LEFT SIDE WE HAVE -3. SO OUR SOLUTION IS X = -3. NOW ON NUMBER SIX, THE FIRST THING WE'LL DO IS CLEAR THE FRACTIONS. SO WHAT WE CAN DO, THERE'S A COUPLE WAYS TO APPROACH THIS, BUT THE MOST OBVIOUS ONE MIGHT BE TO MULTIPLY BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION BY 3. AND NOTICE HOW WHAT HAPPENS HERE IS THIS 3 SIMPLIFIES WITH THIS 3 SO WE'RE LEFT WITH 2 x 6X + 1 = 18. NOW I COULD'VE MULTIPLIED BY THE RECIPROCAL 3/2 BUT I'LL GO AHEAD AND LEAVE IT IN THIS FORM. NOW WE'LL CLEAR THE PARENTHESES SO WE HAVE 12X + 2 = 18. AND AGAIN, THE NEXT STEP IS WE UNDO THE ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION SO WE'LL SUBTRACT 2 ON BOTH SIDES AND I'LL WRITE THE RESULT UP HERE. WE'D HAVE 12X ON THE LEFT, THAT'S 0 AND WE'D HAVE 16 ON THE RIGHT. DIVIDING BY 12 ON BOTH SIDES-- AGAIN, WE'RE DIVIDING BECAUSE THAT 12 IS ATTACHED TO THE X BY MULTIPLICATION. SO WE HAVE X = 16/12, BUT THIS DOES SIMPLIFY AND WE CAN WRITE 16 AS 4 x 4 AND 12 AS 4 x 3, SO WE'D HAVE 4/3 OR 1 1/3 AS OUR SOLUTION. LET'S GO AHEAD AND TAKE A LOOK AT ONE MORE. THE FIRST THING WE NOTICE THERE'S NO DECIMALS OR FRACTIONS SO THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE TO CLEAR THE PARENTHESES BY DISTRIBUTING. NEXT STEP IS WE'LL COMBINE OUR LIKE TERMS. AGAIN, WE HAVE X TERMS ON BOTH SIDES, SO WE NEED TO GET THE X TERMS ON ONE SIDE SO WE EITHER NEED TO SUBTRACT 5X ON BOTH SIDES OR SUBTRACT 3X ON BOTH SIDES. I WILL GO AHEAD AND SUBTRACT 5X ON BOTH SIDES, SO WE HAVE TO DIVIDE BY -2 TO ISOLATE THE VARIABLE. THIS WOULD GIVE US 1X OR X AND ON THE LEFT WE'D HAVE 24 DIVIDED BY -2 = -12. I WOULD LIKE TO PAUSE NOW AND GO BACK TO THE FIRST EXAMPLE AND SHOW YOU HOW YOU CAN CHECK THIS ON THE GRAPHING CALCULATOR. ON NUMBER ONE, WE SAID THE SOLUTION WAS X = 12. SO WHAT WE CAN DO IS ASSIGN 12 THE VALUE OF X ON THE GRAPHING CALCULATOR. SO WE TYPE IN "12, STORE X," ENTER. NOW WHAT WE CAN DO IS TYPE IN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE EQUATION 3X + 7 AND SEE IF WE GET 43. AND WE CAN SEE THAT CHECKS. LET'S GO AHEAD AND TRY NUMBER TWO AS WELL. WE'LL STORE -3 IN FOR X, "-3, STORE X," ENTER. AND THEN WE'LL TYPE IN THE LEFT SIDE AGAIN, "4 - 2X," AND SEE IF WE GET 10. THIS IS A VERY NICE WAY TO CHECK YOUR WORK AS YOU SOLVE THESE EQUATIONS.