What we have to do here is group our x's together.
So just add all the x's together...
3x - 5x + 8x + 1x = 7x
Now.. we can write 7x instead of all of that
7x = 42 Now divide both sides by 7
÷7 = ÷7 Now it cancels out on the left side And we solve for the right side.
**********
x = 42 ÷ 7 = 6
x = 6
Good Luck! :)