What we have to do here is group our x's together. So just add all the x's together... 3x - 5x + 8x + 1x = 7x
Now.. we can write 7x instead of all of that 7x = 42 Now divide both sides by 7 ÷7 = ÷7 Now it cancels out on the left side And we solve for the right side. ********** x = 42 ÷ 7 = 6 x = 6
