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How Do You Solve a Two-Step Equation?

Solve 69 - 3b = 48 for b

Summary

  1. 'b' is a variable
  2. We want to move everything but 'b' to the right hand side
  3. Do the order of operations backwards
  4. Subtract 69 from both sides
  5. The 69's on the left hand side cancel out, and 48 - 69 = -21
  6. Now we have to divide both sides by '-3'
  7. The -3's cancel out, and so do the negative signs on the right hand side
  8. -21 divided by -3 is equal to 7!

Notes

    1. 'b' is a variable
    1. LHS stands for Left Hand Side
    2. We are doing the order of operations backwards, which means we start with addition or subtraction
    1. LHS stands for Left Hand Side
    2. We are doing the order of operations backwards, which means we start with addition or subtraction
    3. There is no subtraction to cancel out, but there is addition on the left hand side
    4. After all, the LHS can be written as '-3b + 69'
    1. 48 minus 69 is equal to -21
    1. LHS stands for Left Hand Side
    2. We are doing the order of operations backwards
    3. Since we are done with addition/subtraction, we can cancel out any multiplication or division
    1. The opposite of multiplication is division, so divide both sides by -3
    1. -21 divided by -3 is equal to 7
    1. 'b' is a variable