The first step to solve the equation \(3x + 8 = 41\) is to isolate the term containing \(x\). You can do this by subtracting \(8\) from both sides of the equation. Here’s how it looks:
\[ 3x + 8 - 8 = 41 - 8 \]
This simplifies to:
\[ 3x = 33 \]
Now you can proceed to solve for \(x\).