Question

There is a mistake in the solution to this equation. Write a complete sentence toexplain which step a mistake first appears in the solution to the equation?Step 1: 3 + 15h + 3h = 42Step 2: 21h = 42Step 3: 212Step 4: h = 2

Answer 1

The equation is

`3+15h+3h=42`

First add together the terms that have the same unknown, h, and send the integer, 3, to the other side of the equation by subtracting it to each side of the = sign

`\begin{gathered} 3-3+18h=42-3 \\ 18h=39 \end{gathered}`

Now that you have the unnknown in one side and the numbers in the others side of the = sign, divide it by 18 to reach the value of h

`\begin{gathered} 18h=39 \\ h=(39)/(18) \\ h=(13)/(6)=2.167 \end{gathered}`

The mistake in step 2 is that they added and integer with the terms corresponding to the variable h. When solving equations, is a mistake to do this, since the value of h is unknown, you cannot perform any mathematical operations such as adding/subtracting values to it.