Part 1. What is your first step in solving this equation? Remember, there is more than one way to solve this equation. Part 2. How would you isolate the variable and solve for x after you have completed Part 1?

Question

The equation just so happens to be 4(3x - 2) = -24

GPT 3.5 · Answer

Part 1: To solve this equation, the first step is to distribute the 4 to the terms inside the parentheses.

4(3x - 2) = -24
12x - 8 = -24

Part 2: To isolate the variable and solve for x, we can start by adding 8 to both sides of the equation to eliminate the constant term on the left side.

12x - 8 + 8 = -24 + 8
12x = -16

Next, we divide both sides of the equation by 12 to get x alone.

(12x)/12 = (-16)/12
x = -4/3

Therefore, the solution to the equation 4(3x - 2) = -24 is x = -4/3.