Question

Using the property of equality, what first step would you take to rearrange the formula y=mx+b using x as the quantity of interest??

Answer 1

To rearrange the formula \( y = mx + b \) and solve for \( x \), you can follow these steps using properties of equality. Here’s the first step:

1. **Subtract \( b \) from both sides**:

\[
y - b = mx
\]

This isolates the term involving \( x \) on one side. The next steps would include dividing by \( m \) to solve for \( x \). After completing all steps, you would get:

\[
x = \frac{y - b}{m}
\]

But the very first step, as requested, is subtracting \( b \) from both sides.