Ok so the first step is to -1 from both sides. On the right side it cancels out and on the left side it = -16. So now your left with -16= 8x. Your still not done yet though. So now what you want to do is divide both sides by 8. On the right side it cancels out and you bring down x and on the left side it equals -2. So x=-2. So to verify it you have to plu -2 back into the equation. So -15= 8 Times -2 +1 so 8 Times -2 = -16 plus one is -15. Hoped that helped!!