Question

How do you solve $ 3x - 5 = 1 $ ?

Answer 1

Hint: To solve any linear equation with the general form $ ax + b = c $ , the first step we need to do in order to solve the equation is to get all the similar terms on side of the equal. Hence, we will bring -5 to the right side of the equation to make it $ 3x = 1 + 5 $ . Now post addition of the numbers, our equation will look like this $ 3x = 6 $ . Again, we will apply the above mentioned step to this as now we have to bring the coefficient of x to one side of the equation and constants on one side. After this step we will get our answer as $ x = \dfrac{6}{3} = 2 $ .

Complete step-by-step answer:
The given equation we have is,
 $ 3x - 5 = 1 $
Our first step will be to bring all the similar terms on one side of the equation
Therefore,
 $
3x - 5 = 1 \\
\Rightarrow 3x = 1 + 5 \\
\Rightarrow 3x = 6 \;
 $
Now keeping the unknown variable x on one side of the equation and taking its coefficient to the other side, our equation will become:-
 $
3x = 6 \\
x = \dfrac{6}{3} \\
= 2 \;
 $
Therefore, for the equation $ 3x - 5 = 1 $ , x will be equal to 2.
Now, to verify whether our answer is correct or not, we will just put the value of x that is 2 in the initial equation
 $
\left[ {3 \times 2} \right] - 5 \\
= 6 - 5 \\
= 1 = RHS \;
 $
Hence, $ LHS = RHS $ which proves our answer is correct
So, the correct answer is “x=2”.

Note: The sign of numbers when transferred to another side of the equation is always reversed. That means ‘-‘ becomes ‘+’ and ‘ $ \times $ ’ becomes ‘ $ \div $ ’. So, be careful with signs when interchanging terms from one side to the other as these type of calculation mistakes are common and very easy to correct.