will82abn wrote:i am having problems with x1 not able or just don't see how to get the fraction at the end here is another problem y+3=3/4(x-2) then the problem begin when you dist the fraction 3/4 through to get 3/4x - 9/2 how to get the 9/2 is my prob.
I find it easier to learn with examples to hand, so I'll lay it out, step by step, and hopefully, you may be able to see the pattern.
)
Distribute the
through the parentheses:
 \,-\, \frac34(2) \,\,\,)
, taking care with the minus sign.
Clean up:
To isolate the
, so it's on its own, subtract 3 from both sides:
Clean up:
Now, in order to combine the
with the
, both numbers need to be in the form of a fraction with the same denominator (the number on the bottom). The simplest way to do that here is to convert the -3 into a fraction with a denominator of 2. We do that by multiplying it by
; this won't change the value, because any number divided by itself is 1, any number multiplied by 1 remains unchanged:
)
Clean up:
Now we can combine the two fractions:
If you can't see how
... you can rearrange the fractions like this:
}2 \,=\, \frac{(-9)}2 \,=\, -\frac92)
We just need to be careful with the minus signs.
DAiv
