Solving for x

By Tutor GuyNo Comments

 

“Solve for x” simply means “Get x all by itself on one side of the equation”.  Of course, when x is by itself, it must be equal to whatever is on the other side of the equals sign.

What makes this so important? Sometimes we are interested in solving for other quantities besides x, and if we can isolate that value, the solution can be easy to find.

Example: Solve for x^2+y^2

\begin{array}{rl}  x^2z^2+y^2z^2-w^2 & =0 \\  x^2z^2+y^2z^2 & =w^2 \\  z^2(x^2+y^2) & =w^2 \\  x^2+y^2 & =\dfrac{w^2}{z^2} \end{array}

Algebra 1
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