190k views
2 votes
Solve for x:
(x-2)(x + 8) = 0

User Nodm
by
8.7k points

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer:

x = 2; x = -8

Explanation:

We can think of (x - 2) and (x + 8) as two different expressions and because the two expressions are being multiplied by each other and are equal to 0, we can separate them and set both equal to 0 since you can only get 0 from multiplication if one of the expressions equals 0.

x - 2 = 0

x = 2

x + 8 = 0

x = -8

We can plug in each solution to check that they equal 0:

(2 - 2)(2 + 8) = 0

0 * 10 = 0

0 = 0

(-8 + 2)(-8 + 8) = 0

-6 * 0 = 0

0 = 0

As we can see, when either -2 is cancelled out by x =2 or 8 is cancelled out by x = -8, at least one of the expressions is equal to 0 and thus the solutions are valid.

User Rohit Kulshreshtha
by
7.8k points

No related questions found

Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.