Solving Equations with Variables on Both Sides

Things to remember while working through these:

- You need to write down and take time to do the steps to solve these

- When you add or subtract something from both sides of the equal sign, you do it ONCE to each side

- When you multiply or divide both sides by something, you do it to every terms in the equation (usually, we only have term on each side, but just in case you go in a different order)

- Only combine LIKE terms

Those the basics of solving equations with variables on both sides. Some equations may have distribution or like terms on one or both sides. To solve equations like that, here are the general steps:

1. Distribute to get rid of parentheses

2. Combine like terms on each side- don't cross the equal sign!

3. Add or subtract to get the variables (x's) to one side of the equation (it doesn't actually matter which side)

4. Add or subtract to get the constants to the other side of the equation

5. Multiply or divide to isolate the variable

The video below shows Step 3 as taking away the smaller variable from both sides, but that is just one way to do it. As long as you do the same thing to both sides, you're ok.