Question

How do you evaluate the equation $16t-20t=12?$

Answer 1

Hint: We will subtract the large number from the small number. For that, we will subtract the small number from the large one and put a negative sign. Then we will transpose accordingly to find the value of the unknown.

Complete step by step solution:
Let us consider the given problem.
We are asked to evaluate the equation $16t-20t=12$ to find the value of the unknown variable.
Here, to find the value of the unknown variable, we need to find the difference of the terms on the left-hand side. We will find the difference of the coefficients and there will not be any change in the variable. We will subtract $20$ from $16.$ This will be done by subtracting $16$ from $20$ and putting a negative sign to the difference.
So, when we subtract $16$ from $20,$ we will get the difference $4.$
So, the difference when $20$ is subtracted from $16$ is $16-20=-4.$ So the left-hand side will become $16t-20t=-4t.$
So, our equation will become $-4t=12.$
Now, we want to bring the similar terms on the same side. So, we need to shift the constant terms from the left-hand side to the right-hand side and leave the variable term on the left-hand side.
When we shift the constant term $-4$ from the left-hand side to the right hand-side, it will be transposed to the denominator on the right-hand side.
So, we will get $t=\dfrac{12}{-4}=-3.$
Hence the value of the unknown variable is $t=-3.$

Note: We can solve the equations applying necessary rearrangements on it. We can transpose the terms if necessary. We can apply the operations using the rules present in Mathematics. Also, we have to be careful while doing calculations to avoid calculation mistakes.