Equations are a means to indicate different expressions are equal in value. Students will be required to solve an equation which essentially means isolating one variable in terms of a value or equivalent expression. This procedure can be accomplished by undoing the operations that transformed the variable into a more complex expression in the first place. Any operation performed on one side must be performed on the other side also to maintain equality. Those operations typically include…

1. Multiplication to eliminate fractions or denominators
2. Addition/Subtraction to remove constants
3. Division to remove coefficients
4. Squares to undo square roots and vice versa
5. …any operation that undoes the complexity of the expression to isolate one variable in the form x =

Make sure to plug your results back into the equation to check for any calculation or logical mistakes. Remember some equations do not have a unique solution, but rather many or no solutions.