Question

What mistake did the student make when solvingtheir two-step equation?(a)(b)If correctly solved what should the value of x be?

Answer 1

Given

`4-2x=-2`

Part A

The first thing is to subtract 4 from both sides, it should not add...

The mistake the student made was he or she added 4 to both sides instead of subtracting 4 from both sides.

`\begin{gathered} 4-4-2x=-2-4 \\ -2x=-6 \end{gathered}`

Part B

`\begin{gathered} \text{Divide both sides by -2} \\ -(2x)/(-2)=-(6)/(-2) \\ \\ x=3 \end{gathered}`