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6 equals negative 5/6x. What does the x equal in fraction form?

User Edinson
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Answer:

Is (-5/6)*x = 6? Then x = -36/5.

Is (-5/6x) = 6? Then x = -5/36.

Explanation:

I hate to nitpick, but the question itself leaves a lot up to interpetation thanks to PEMDAS. In math, it matters if numbers and variables are either in the numerator or the denominator of a fraction. If the arrangement is made unclear, then differing answers may appear, and that's not a really good look for mathematics as a whole. But since I'm nice, I'll answer the two equations that this question can be interpeted as.

First intepretation: (-5/6)*x = 6

The only step we do is multiply both sides by (-6/5) to get x by itself. Remember that when you multiply a number by its reciprocal, the product is 1. So, if we multiply (-5/6) by its reciprocal (-6/5), it equals 1. They then cancel out.

(-5/6)*x = 6

(-6/5)*(-5/6)*x = 6*(-6/5)

x = -36/5

Second Interpretation: (-5/6x) = 6

Since x is in the denominator, we need to get it out of there so our answer equals x and not 1/x. So, we will multiply both sides by x.

(-5/6x) = 6

x*(-5/6x) = x*6

-5/6 = 6x

Then, we divide 6 on both sides to isolate x.

(-5/6)/6 = (6x)/6

-5/36 = x

x = -5/36

User Suresh Mangs
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