Algebra - Suzia, Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 7:52pm

Please explain these problems

5-x-x=-1

a/2+1/5=17

3.5=12x-5x

a-4a=2a+1-5a

3 answers

Let's look at the first problem.

5 - x - x = -1

It means that you're subtracting a number twice from 5 and getting -1.
What number times 2 can be subtracted from 5 to get -1?

How about 3?
5 - 3 = 2
2 - 3 = -1

Or you can do it algebraically:
5-x-x = -1
6 = 2x
3 = x

If you post the answers to the other problems, we'll be glad to check them for you.
a-4a=2a+1-5a
lil wayne