Posted by markmorse@nocharge.com (66.109.195.223) on October 05, 2003 at 23:19:33:
In Reply to: Need Help solving this Algebra problem posted by on October 05, 2003 at 16:42:31:
You didn't ask any questions. Are you supposed to simplify the right side of the equation?
We would like to combine the 2x and the 4x, but we can't because the 4x is inside parentheses. The multiplication of 4 times 4x needs to be done first, then we can add the 2x.
We can get rid of the parentheses by using the distributive property.
a(b + c) = ab + ac
In other words, both terms inside parentheses get multiplied by the factor outside.
4(4x - 2) = (4)(4x) - (4)(2) = 16x - 8
Now we can combine the x-terms:
g(x) = 2x + 16x - 8
g(x) = 18x - 8
~ Mark