To solve this you would have to use a reverse PEMDAS- it would be easy to start out simplifying the equation so -12 + 7 would be -5. (-5 = -5 (x+2))Next you can try to get rid of the -5 outside the parentheses by adding 5 to both sides, now making the problem 0 = x + 2. So, subtract the two from both sides and you are left with your answer -2= x