Linear equations

WALT write and solve linear equations

What is a linear equation?

It looks something like this

3x = 24

2x + 3 = 15

It is a type of math that has the alphabet in it - but don’t freak out!

The letters (x,y,a,b,p) just represent a missing number, that you have to figure out.

When you read the equation, you could read it as..

3 times something equals 24.

2 times something plus 3 equals 15.

How to solve them?

Things to know

• Remember your opposites/reversibility - multiply/divide are together, add/subtract are together.
• Do ONE THING at a time.
• Try to get the letter (the ‘x’) on one side by itself
• If your equation is 4x + 2 = 18
• You might start by ‘moving the +2’ to the other side, which means making it a -2. This cancels out the +2 on the left side, and makes the right side 16.
• Next you would divide by 4 (since 4x means 4 times X). 16/4=4
• So in this case, x=4

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So X = 8

Give these a try!

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