Solving a linear equation

by Gracie
(USA)

Question

What is 5n - 2n + 12 + 20 = 5

Answer

STEP 1:    Here, we need to find the value of n. We note that the terms 5n and 2n are like terms. So, we first subtract 2n from 5n.
STEP 2:    Now, we add the like terms 12 and 20 to further simplify the expression.
STEP 3:    Next we have to isolate the variable term 3n so that it becomes easy to evaluate n. For this, we subtract 32 from both sides of the equation.
STEP 4:    To get the value of n, the only step left now is to isolate n in the equation. We divide both the sides by 3 to evaluate n.
The value of n is –9.