Question

10x-12-8x=4x+15
what are two steps that can transform this equation into a x=a format

Answer 1

To solve the equation \(10x - 12 - 8x = 4x + 15\), we can follow these two steps:

**Step 1**: Combine like terms on the left side of the equation.

Starting with:
\[ 10x - 12 - 8x = 4x + 15 \]

Combine \(10x\) and \(-8x\):
\[ (10x - 8x) - 12 = 4x + 15 \]
Which simplifies to:
\[ 2x - 12 = 4x + 15 \]

**Step 2**: Move all terms involving \(x\) to one side and constant terms to the other side.

Subtract \(4x\) from both sides:
\[ 2x - 4x - 12 = 15 \]
Which simplifies to:
\[ -2x - 12 = 15 \]

Now, we can move \( -12 \) to the right side by adding \(12\) to both sides:
\[ -2x = 15 + 12 \]
\[ -2x = 27 \]

Now the equation can be further simplified to get \(x\) alone:
Divide both sides by \(-2\):
\[ x = -\frac{27}{2} \]

Now we have the equation in \(x = a\) format, where \(a = -\frac{27}{2}\).