Elena wrote the equation 5x = 25. She wants to multiply 25 by 5 to solve it. Does this make sense? Explain why or why not, and then give the solution.
It certainly doesn't make sense. Her equation means
5 times some number is 25. What is that unknown number?
What is the right solution?
No, it does not make sense to multiply 25 by 5 in order to solve the equation 5x = 25.
In order to solve the equation, you need to isolate the variable x on one side of the equation.
To do that, you need to divide both sides of the equation by 5, because 5 is multiplied by x.
By dividing both sides by 5, you get:
5x/5 = 25/5
This simplifies to:
x = 5
So, the solution to the equation 5x = 25 is x = 5.
No, multiplying both sides of the equation by 5 does not make sense. In order to solve the equation 5x = 25, we need to isolate the variable x. To do this, we need to perform the inverse operation of multiplication, which is division.
To solve the equation, we can divide both sides of the equation by 5. This will cancel out the multiplication on the left side, and we will be left with x on the left side and the result of the division on the right side.
Therefore, the correct steps to solve the equation are as follows:
1. Start with the equation 5x = 25.
2. Divide both sides of the equation by 5. This gives us (5x)/5 = 25/5.
3. Simplify the equation on both sides. The division on the left side cancels out, leaving us with x = 5.
So, the solution to the equation 5x = 25 is x = 5.