Remove Number in Front of x

You’ve learned how to get rid of a term on one side of an equation. But what do you do when you’re left with a number—known as a coefficient—in front of $x$ ? We’ll take a look at this situation below.

Rule

Removing a Coefficient in Front of a Variable

1.: Move all the terms containing only numbers over to one side. Remember to change signs.
2.: Move all terms containing the variable— $x$ , for example—to the other side. Remember to change signs.
3.: Simplify both sides.
4.: Divide both sides by the number in front of $x$ , known as its coefficient.

Let’s take a look at an example and see what this looks like:

Example 1

\begin{array}{l} 2 x + 3 & = 7 \\ 2 x & = 7 - 3 \\ 2 x & = 4 \\ \frac{2 x}{2} & = \frac{4}{2} \\ \frac{2 x}{2} & = \frac{4}{2} \\ x & = 2 \end{array}

Activities 1

Activities 2