Answer:
She factored out a 4 from the equation.
Explanation:
So our original equation is 12x + 4 = 20x - 12
Anika's first steep of her equation is 3x + 1 = 5x - 3
We know that the terms were not moved around, so the first step was likely multiplication or division.
We also see that a 4 has been factored out of the entire equation, like this:
12x + 4 = 20x - 12
4(3x + 4) = 4(5x - 3)
And these 4's cancel each other out.
So, I conclude that Anika's first step was dividing the entire equation by 4 or factoring out a 4 from the equation.