How do you solve problems like -2 plus 5x equals 13?

Answer 1

This is how I learned:

-2 + 5x = 13

5x + -2 + 2 = 13 + 2

5x = 15

-- --

5 5

x = 3

Then check:

-2 + 5 x 3 = ?

-2 + 15 = ?

13 =13

This is because when you add and subtract integers, adding negative is subtracting.

Subtracting negatives is like adding, but the result is negative. So, when you take

-2 + 2 it equals 0.