How do you solve this 19x-7 equals 5 plus 13x?

Answer 1

The aim is to get the "x's" on one side of the equation, and a number on the other side. I.e "x= something". To do this, let's aim to get the x's on the left hand side of the equals sign, and numbers on the right.

So, 19x-7=5+13x We can minus the 13x from the right hand side, which will move it to the left hand side, like so: 19x-13x-7=5. Just think about lifting the "term" up and moving it to the other side. In the process, remember to change the "sign" involved. So when positives are taken to the other side of the "=" sign they become negatives, and vice versa.

Now, the above line is the same as 7x-7=5 (Since 19x-13x = 7x)

Now we can add 7, so that the left hand side is just x's: 7x=5+7

Tidy up : 7x=12

so x=12/7 (Devide the answer by 7, to get "x=something", rather than "7x=something").