Mathematics Entry No. 1
2:11 PM
Through The Looking Glass : Solving Linear Equations With Variables
First of all, let’s consider the equal sign (=). When you think of this, don’t shrink away and curl up in a ball in some corner, because this concept is fairly simple and speaking honestly, you will need to know this for approximately 70% of everything beyond this point.
So, what does the fancy equal sign really mean? The equal sign can act like a mirror. It reflects everything from the other side. Obviously if you see an equation that looks like this, x=8, you know that (x) will immediately be (8). To make this harder, however, you may see something like this, (2x-4=8). What do you do?
Just as the equal sign acts like a mirror, remember that this is similar to Alice when she steps through the looking glass; everything is the opposite. So, just as it is opposite when you move to the other side of the looking glass, everything is exactly the same. With this information we can now start.
- 2x-4=8 | We start by isolating the variable
- 2x=8+4 | since we moved the (-4) to the other side of the mirror it is now positive (+4)
- 2x=12 add the (8+4) and you have (12), now continue with the mirror concept
- 2x/2 = 12/2 because the (2) is being multiplied by (x) we use the mirror effect to do the opposite and divide by (2) rather than multiply.
- x=6 now we have our answer for (x) and can plug it into the equation.
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