I need to find the value of x.

5(x-4) = 3(x+8)

Trying to help my niece and haven't done this stuff for 20 years. :)

5(x-4) = 3(x+8)
5x - 20 = 3x + 24
5x - 3x = 20 + 24
2x = 44
x = 22

I hope this brings back the algebra you studied 20 years ago. :-)

By the way -- to check myself (I took algebra many, many years ago), I substituted 22 for x in the original problem.

We knew the answer was 22, but not sure how to get there. Thanks for your help! We really appreciate it. Will use the service again in the future. :)

You're welcome! I'm glad I could help you and your niece. It seems like you did a great job solving the equation. Just to summarize the steps:

1. Distribute the 5 and 3 to the terms inside the parentheses:
5x - 20 = 3x + 24

2. Move the variable terms (3x and 5x) to one side of the equation and the constant terms (-20 and 24) to the other side. You can do this by adding or subtracting the same value to both sides of the equation:
5x - 3x = 20 + 24

3. Combine like terms on both sides:
2x = 44

4. Solve for x by dividing both sides of the equation by the coefficient of the variable (2):
x = 44 / 2
x = 22

To check your answer, you substituted x = 22 back into the original equation and found that it satisfies the equation, which confirms that your solution is correct.

I'm glad you found the service helpful! If you have any more questions in the future, feel free to ask.

To solve the equation 5(x-4) = 3(x+8) and find the value of x, you need to follow a series of steps:

1. Start by distributing the multiplication on each side of the equation:
5(x-4) = 3(x+8)
This simplifies to: 5x - 20 = 3x + 24

2. Next, move all the terms containing x to one side of the equation by subtracting 3x from both sides:
5x - 3x - 20 = 3x - 3x + 24
Simplifying further gives: 2x - 20 = 24

3. To isolate the x term, you need to move the constant term (-20) to the other side of the equation. Do this by adding 20 to both sides:
2x - 20 + 20 = 24 + 20
This results in: 2x = 44

4. Finally, solve for x by dividing both sides of the equation by the coefficient of x, which is 2:
(2x)/2 = 44/2
Simplifying gives: x = 22

Therefore, x is equal to 22. You can check the answer by substituting x = 22 back into the original equation to see if both sides are equal.