Consider this equation:

4(3x−2)=−24

Part 1. What is your first step in solving this equation?  Remember, there is more than one way to solve this equation.

Part 2. How would you isolate the variable and solve for x after you have completed Part 1?

You do not need to solve the problem.  Simply, describe your process.

**Please label Part 1 and Part 2 in your answer.**

Part 1: The first step in solving this equation is to distribute the 4 to the terms inside the parentheses. This can be done by multiplying 4 with each term inside the parentheses.

Part 2: After distributing the 4, the equation becomes 12x - 8 = -24. To isolate the variable x, we need to move the constant term -8 to the other side of the equation by adding 8 to both sides. This gives us 12x = -24 + 8, which simplifies to 12x = -16. Finally, we can solve for x by dividing both sides of the equation by 12 to obtain the value of x.