Thanks Reiny, but I'm still lost. I understand how you multipled by 10X on the right to get 17x, but you went too fast on the left, and I have no idea how you got 10x^2-20 from the starting left side. Can you show each step?

Question

Thanks,
Carol

x - 2(1/x) = 17/10

multiply each term by 10x

10x^2 - 20 = 17x
10x^2 - 17x - 20 = 0
(5x + 4)(2x - 5) = 0

so x = -4/5 or x = 5/2

check:
reciprocal of 5/2 is 2/5
twice the reciprocal is 4/5
evaluate 5/2 - 4/5
= (25-8)/10 = 17/10

Answer 1

x * 10x = 10x^2

2/x * 10x = 20 (The x's cancel each other out.)

Thus 10x(x -2/x) = !0x^2 - 20

I hope this helps a little more. Thanks for asking.