HI there here are the steps to the solution: 8x -12 = 84 now we subtract -12 from both sides 8x -12 - (-12) = 84 - (-12) adding -12 and 12 to get 0 8x + 0 = 84 + 12 8x = 96 divide both sides of the equation by 8 8x 96 8 = 8 The 8's cancell out leaving x = 96/8 dividing we get x = 12! For some reason...