Final answer:
The first step in solving the equation using algebra tiles is to represent the given equation using the tiles. We can balance the equation by moving tiles on both sides and isolate the x variable. The solution to the equation 3x-9=15 is x=8.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first step in solving the equation using algebra tiles is to represent the given equation using the tiles. For the equation 3x-9=15, we can represent the constant -9 using negative tiles and the constant 15 using positive tiles. We can also represent 3x using positive x tiles.
Next, we need to balance the equation by moving the tiles on both sides. We can do this by adding 9 positive tiles to both sides of the equation. This step helps us isolate the x variable on one side of the equation.
After balancing the equation, we can count the number of x tiles on one side to find the value of x. In this case, we see that there are 8 positive x tiles, indicating that x=8. Therefore, the solution to the equation 3x-9=15 is x=8.