Ben is solving the equation 5x -1 = 19 He says that first, he will subtract 1 from both sides and then multiply both sides by 5. Explain Ben's error and solve for the correct answer for x show all steps and answer like a 12 year old girl

Answer 1

Ben's error is that he reversed the order of the operations. Instead, he should have multiplied both sides by 5 first and then subtracted 1.

Here's how you can solve it correctly using the correct order:

Step 1: Multiply both sides by 5
5x - 1 = 19
5 * (5x - 1) = 19 * 5
25x - 5 = 95

Step 2: Add 5 to both sides
25x - 5 + 5 = 95 + 5
25x = 100

Step 3: Divide both sides by 25
25x/25 = 100/25
x = 4

So the correct answer is x = 4.