Question

Make x the subject of the formula
a=bx-c

Answer 1

`\\x=\frac{a+c}b`

Explanation:

If I'm not mistaken, you're probably confused on what you're supposed to do here. You probably dealt with regular algebra problems like x + 1 = 2 but you never seen this one before. And, you ask yourself: where are the numbers? What am I supposed to be doing here? Do I still solve for x?

Stop right there! Yes, you still do solve for x. But this time, x won't be a constant. It will be in terms of other variables. What we have here is a literal equation, an equation filled with mostly variables. Here are some examples that you might have seen before in academia:

y = mx + b

F = ma

a = bq + r, for r >= 0

And, with literal equations, you basically do the same thing as you would with an algebriac equation if you're solving for a variable: do the reverse order of operations! (A.K.A., you still solve for x).

Let's do that. First, we isolate bx by adding c to both sides:

`a=bx-c\\\\a+c=bx`

Then, we divide b on both sides to fully isolate x:

`\frac{a+c}b=x\\ \\x=\frac{a+c}b`

And that's our answer. So with literal equations, try not to get scared because there's too many variables. In the end, you can still find the way to solve for x (or the variable you are asked to solve for).