The Purplemath Forums

I am stumped by a very simple equation that I am trying to solve for x. 2(x + 4) = ax. I know the answer is supposed to be x = 8/(a - 2), but I can't see how to get there. I first cleared the parentheses: 2x + 8 = ax. Then: 2x = ax - 8; which leads to x = ax/2 - 4. But I can't seem to clear that rig...

G'day Little Dragon, Very many thanks for pointing me to the "little trick". I had had a brief look at that page earlier, but hadn't read all the way down before deciding it was irrelevant. Careless! Must be more careful about that in the future. I was glad to discover it was a "trick...