Question

Luisa is solving an equation on the bottom of a page. The corner of the page where the equation is written is torn off as shown below. 7(x+2) = 7(x+5). Luisa knows only one number was torn off, and she knows that the equation has an infinite number of solutions. What must be the missing number?

Answer 1

The missing number cannot be determined because the equation leads to an inconsistency.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the missing number, we can simplify the equation by eliminating terms. By distributing the 7 to both terms within the parentheses, we get 7x + 14 = 7x + 35. Since the x terms cancel out, we are left with a statement that is always true: 14 = 35. This means that the missing number must be any number that satisfies the equation 14 = 35, which is not possible.