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To solve and equation you undo what is being done to the variable.

You go about that by applying the order of operations backwards

True or false?

User Tony Maro
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1 Answer

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16 votes

Answer:

False

Explanation:

You want to know if it is true that ...

To solve an equation you undo what is being done to the variable. You go about that by applying the order of operations backwards.

Solution process

If an equation has a single instance of the variable, and if the operations done to the variable are ones that have inverse operations, then it is often true that the equation can be solved by applying inverse operations in the reverse order that operations are performed.

This is obviously true in trivial cases:

ax + b = c . . . . b is added to the product

This is solved by subtracting b (the inverse of adding b), then multiplying the product by the inverse of the coefficient of the variable.

Strictly speaking, we are not executing the order of operations backwards. We are applying inverse operations in the reverse order that operations were originally done.

Throughout the solution process, the order of operations remains applicable. "Backwards" refers only to using the original sequence of operations to identify an appropriate order in which to apply inverse operations.

Often, the solution process begins by simplifying the equation and/or eliminating fractions. These processes are executed in accordance with the order of operations and the properties of equality. There is nothing backwards about it.

User Tolgahan Albayrak
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