I'm having trouble solving a math equation for my homework, and I need help with the steps to isolate y. The equation is 2(y - 4) = 12. Can you find the second step in solving this equation for y?

1 answer

Certainly! You have the equation:

\[ 2(y - 4) = 12. \]

The first step is to distribute the 2 on the left side. So we would multiply 2 by both terms inside the parentheses:

\[ 2y - 8 = 12. \]

Now you've performed the first step. The second step is to add 8 to both sides of the equation to isolate the term with \(y\).

So, it looks like this:

\[ 2y - 8 + 8 = 12 + 8, \]

which simplifies to:

\[ 2y = 20. \]

That is your second step in solving the equation for \(y\).