Solve... 8x + 2 = 3x - 8

To SOLVE this equation means find what x = ? To do this we need to we need to follow 3 steps. FIRST: get all the x's on one side (remember that all operations must be done to both sides of the = sign). SECOND: get all the numbers on the other side so the x's are by themselves. THIRD: divide to get 1x = ? Now let's tackle the question. So we can see there are x's on both sides - what can we do to make sure there are x's on one side only? From 8x + 2 = 3x - 8 we can take away 3x from both sides to get 5x + 2 = -8. Now, because we want only the x's on one side, we need to collect the other numbers on the other side. So, to remove the 2 from the LHS we need to subtract 2 from both sides to get 5x = -10 .... REMEMBER: be careful of signs here! Lastly, we need to find 1x = ? so we must divide both sides by 5 to get x = -2 and that is our FINAL ANSWER.