Answer:
x = 6
Explanation:
This is a bit of a tricky equation, and it's what we call an exponential equation since it involves some exponents. The way we begin to solve these kinds of problems is make the base on each side of the equals sign the same. On one side, we have 9 as our base, and on the other side, we have 3 as our base. 9 = 3², so we can rewrite our equation as shown below:
(3²)⁴ˣ⁻¹⁰ = 3⁵ˣ⁻²
From there, we can use the exponent rule (xᵃ)ᵇ = xᵃᵇ to simplify the left side of the equation.
3²⁽⁴ˣ⁻¹⁰⁾ = 3⁵ˣ⁻²
3⁸ˣ⁻²⁰ = 3⁵ˣ⁻²
Since our bases are now the same, we can take just the exponents and turn it into a new equation as shown below:
8x - 20 = 5x - 2
Hopefully at this point, this problem becomes easy for you, but I'll show how I solved this new equation below in case it doesn't make sense.
8x - 20 = 5x - 2
8x - 20 - 5x = 5x - 2 - 5x
3x - 20 = -2
3x - 20 + 20 = -2 + 20
3x = 18
3x/3 = 18/3
x = 6
Hopefully that's helpful! Let me know if you need more help. :)