Hi everyone. I've been struggling with the following maths question for a while and I'm not sure where I went wrong.

Question

Hi everyone. I've been struggling with the following maths question for a while and I'm not sure where I went wrong.

2(3x/5 - 1) = 10 and I need to solve for x
I first tried turning everything into fractions over 5 but that gave me the answer of 10/3 which I know is wrong because the back of my book says the answer is 10. Then I tried only turning the inside of the bracket into fractions over 5 but that gave me the same answer. Any help?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

2(3x/5 - 1) = 10

3x/5 - 1 = 5
3x/5 = 6
3x = 30
x = 10

Answer 2

Thanks so much :) so I needed to get rid of the bracket first?

Answer 3

well, first you had to get rid of the 2, so you could then concentrate on evaluating what was inside the brackets.

You could also have processed the brackets by multiplying by 2 on the left first:

2(3x/5 - 1) = 10
6x/5 - 2 = 10
6x/5 = 12
6x = 60
x = 10

Answer 4

Thank you very much.

Answer 5

Hi! I'll be glad to help you with the math problem you're working on. Let's walk through the steps together to solve the equation 2(3x/5 - 1) = 10.

Step 1: Distribute the 2 to both terms inside the parentheses:
2 * 3x/5 - 2 * 1 = 10

This simplifies to:
6x/5 - 2 = 10

Step 2: Get rid of the constant term by adding 2 to both sides of the equation:
(6x/5 - 2) + 2 = 10 + 2

This simplifies to:
6x/5 = 12

Step 3: To isolate the variable term, multiply both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of the coefficient of x. In this case, the coefficient of x is 6/5, so you should multiply both sides by its reciprocal, which is 5/6:
(5/6)(6x/5) = (5/6)(12)

The left side becomes:
(5/6) * (6x/5) = x

The right side becomes:
(5/6) * 12 = 10

Step 4: Simplify both sides of the equation:
x = 10

So, the value of x that satisfies the equation is 10.

Based on the steps you described, it seems like you may have made an error simplifying the equation. It's important to distribute the 2 to both terms inside the parentheses, and then perform all the necessary calculations accurately.

I hope this explanation clarifies the steps to solve the equation for you. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!