Isolate variable in denominator

The trick here is to multiply both sides of the equation by the least common multiple of the denominators. We MUST honor the distributive property.

Isolate Variable

Isolate a variable by:
1) Changing all "-" signs to "+ the opposite"
2) Use the distributive property
3) Identify like terms
4) Combine like terms
5)Add the opposite
6)Divide since division is the opposite of multiply

Isolate variable with mixed numbers

Container word problem

Here we recall "times" means multiply and we let a variable represent the unknown quantity.

Consecutive Even Integers