Solving One-Step Equations Examples

Solve for x:

To isolate x, we can do one of two things: subtract -8 or add +8. We prefer adding the opposite.

	add 8 to each side
	simplify

To check, let's plug -12 in for x.

It works!

Solve for y:

This one's a bit trickier. We're going to show you how to do this two different ways.

	add (-7) to each side
	the negative of y is 3
y = -3	divide both sides by -1

Here's the other way:

	add y to each side
	add (-10) to each side

Now check the answer:

Solve for z:

This one is different from the first division example; here the variable is hanging out in the denominator. To solve for z, we need to get the variable back on top.

	multiply each side by z
	the z's on the left cancel out
	divide each side by
-25 = z	the -4s cancel each other

Now, don't forget to check: