Question

What is the first step in simplifying the equation: 8 · (x+2) = 4(2x + 9)?

a) Add/subtract
b) Exponents
c) Multiply/divide
d) Parentheses
Part B: Solve for x in the equation.
Part C: Explain the steps needed to simplify the equation using the order of operations.

Answer 1

The first step in simplifying the equation 8 · (x+2) = 4(2x + 9) is to eliminate the parentheses. To do this, we use the distributive property and multiply each term inside the parentheses by 8.

Step-by-step explanation:

The first step in simplifying the equation 8 · (x+2) = 4(2x + 9) is to eliminate the parentheses. To do this, we use the distributive property and multiply each term inside the parentheses by 8. This gives us 8x + 16 = 8x + 36.

Next, we can simplify the equation by subtracting 8x from both sides, which gives us 16 = 36. Since this equation is not true, there is no solution for x that satisfies the original equation.