Now that we have an equation with just one variable, x, we can perform balanced moves to try to isolate x to see if there is a value for x that will make the equation true. Since there are x terms on both sides of the equation, let’s get rid of the x term from one of the sides. What move can you make to get rid of the x term on the left side of the equation, 3x, while keeping the equation balanced?

Question

Now that we have an equation with just one variable, x, we can perform balanced moves to try to isolate x to see if there is a value for x that will make the equation true. Since there are x terms on both sides of the equation, let’s get rid of the x term from one of the sides. What move can you make to get rid of the x term on the left side of the equation, 3x, while keeping the equation balanced?
y= 3x−5
y= −5+3x

3x−5 = −5+3x

Multiply each side by 3x

Add 3x to each side

Subtract 3x from each side

GPT-4o mini · Answer

To get rid of the $3x$ term from the left side of the equation $3x - 5 = -5 + 3x$ while keeping the equation balanced, you would: **Subtract $3x$ from each side**. This would help isolate the variable on one side of the equation. Here's how it works: Start with: $$ 3x - 5 = -5 + 3x $$ Subtract $3x$ from both sides: $$ (3x - 3x) - 5 = -5 + (3x - 3x) $$ This simplifies to: $$ -5 = -5 $$ While this reveals that the equation is an identity (true for all values of $x$), it does confirm the two expressions are equivalent.