Final answer:
The distributive property is not used in solving the equation '5x + A' because there are no parentheses that require multiplication. Instead, one would collect like terms and isolate the variable to solve for 'x'.
Step-by-step explanation:
In response to the question, to solve an equation like 5x + A, 'Use the distributive property' would not be a relevant step. The distributive property is used when you need to multiply a single term by each term within a set of parentheses. Here, since there is no multiplication involving parentheses, this property is not applicable.
'Collect like terms' would be a step if we had terms on both sides of the equation that could be combined. 'Isolate the variable' is a step used in solving equations where the goal is to get the variable by itself on one side of the equation. Lastly, 'Collect variable terms on one side' is often a preliminary step to 'Isolate the variable' and can involve adding or subtracting terms on both sides to get all the terms with variables on one side.