Question 7 (essay worth 5 points)

(7.03)
an equation is shown below:

4(2x - 5) + 15 = 11

write the steps you will use to solve the equation and explain each step.

Well, the first thing I would do is subtract 15 on each side to simplify the equation. Once we do that we get 4(2x-5)=-4. Now we multiply 2x and negative 5 by positive 4 to get 8x minus twenty. The equation should now read 8x - 20 = -4. We now add 20 to both sides to get 8x=16. Finally we divide 16 by 8 to get x. If you do so, you should get x=2.