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22 votes
Solve for c.express your answer as a proper or improper fraction in simplest terms.

-7/3=2/3c-5/8

User Matt Vukomanovic
by
2.8k points

1 Answer

11 votes
11 votes

Answer:

c = -41/16

Explanation:

You want to solve the 2-step linear equation -7/3=2/3c-5/8.

As is

The two steps for such an equation are ...

Step 1 - add the opposite of the constant on the side with the variable term.

-7/3 +5/8 = 2/3c -5/8 +5/8

-41/24 = 2/3c . . . . . . . . . . . . . simplify

Step 2 - multiply by the inverse of the coefficient of the variable.

(-41/24)(3/2) = (2/3c)(3/2)

-41/16 = c

Eliminate fractions first

Some folks like to solve equations like this by eliminating fractions as a first step. Here, that can be accomplished by multiplying the equation by 24 (the least common denominator).

(-7/3)(24) = (2/3c)(24) -(5/8)(24) . . . multiply the equation by 24

-56 = 16c -15 . . . . . . . simplify; fractions are gone

-41 = 16c . . . . . . . . . step 1, add the opposite of the unwanted constant

-41/16 = c . . . . . . . . step 2, divide by the coefficient of the variable

User Firuz
by
3.2k points