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Here's an unshmoopy question you'll find on an exam somewhere in life
which of the following should be the most appropriate first step in solving
the equation 2x -17
over 9 equals 7 and here are the potential answers
okay this question is kinda weird really
there are lots of ways to approach it so it's tough to have a hardwired most
appropriate way to tackle
however in this case the best answer is probably getting rid of the fraction
because they're just a pain to deal with especially if we don't have a laptop at
our disposal.
so intuitively multiplying both sides by 9
would make sense as a first step would simplify the world a whole lot but let's
check out the other potential answers here
a says divide both side by two and that doesn't really help us all that much
B. Adding 17 to both sides really just confuses the issue
we can't just add seventeen to the left side and make the -17 go away
That was kind of a curve ball trick question thank you very much test maker
and see dividing by nine doesn't help us at all
we're then stuck with denominators of 81 on the left and 79 on the right
blugh ugly so okay d it is as in
denominators are a pain in the butt