5/26/2017 AlgebraEquationsWithMoreThanOneVariable

Example1Solve forr.

Solution
Whatwerelookingforhereisanexpressionintheform,



Inotherwords,theonlyplacethatwewanttoseeanrisontheleftsideoftheequalsignallbyitself.There
shouldbenootherrsanywhereintheequation.Theprocessgivenaboveshoulddothatforus.

Okay,letsdothisproblem.Wedonthaveanyfractionssowedontneedtoworryaboutthat.Tosimplify
wewillmultiplythePthroughtheparenthesis.Doingthisgives,


Now,weneedtogetallthetermswithanronthemononeside.Thisequationalreadyhasthatsetupforus
whichisnice.Next,weneedtogetalltermsthatdonthaveanrinthemtotheotherside.Thismeans
subtractingaPfrombothsides.


Asafinalstepwewilldividebothsidesbythecoefficientofr.Also,asnotedintheprocesslistedabovethe
coefficientisnotanumber.InthiscaseitisPt.Atthisstagethecoefficientofavariableissimplyallthe
stuffthatmultipliesthevariable.



Togetafinalanswerwewentaheadandflippedtheordertogettheanswerintoamorestandardform.

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