Will you guys help me with my algebra homework today?

I’ll give you a hint:

Your problem is here:

x – (1.8 – 4(x – 3.1x – 34.1))=0
x – (1.8 – 4x – 45.7x + 136.4)=0

Where does the -45.7x come from? Should it really be negative?

Help me break it down one step at a time.
x – 1.8 = -1.8x.
– 1.8x – 4x = – 5.8x.
– 5.8x – 45.7 x = -51.5… OK, I’m stumped. Why wouldn’t t be – 45x. I can use more than hints. I need education. I’m not simply looking for The Answer. I want to understand. I’m taking this class for two reasons, one of which is I have to teach algebra at the High School level. Can’t teach something you can’t master yourself.

Thanks @roundsquare

Does this help?

x – (1.8x – 4(x-3.1(x+11)))=0
x – (1.8x – 4(x – 3.1x – 34.1)) = 0
x – (1.8x – 4x + 12.4x + 136.4) = 0 <—- See here how 12.4x is positive.

Ok..yes, I do see it now…. a negative times a negative is a positive.
So,next I have
-2.2x+12.4x + 136.4
10.2x + 136.4 = 0
.....if these numbers are right, the rest is a piece of cake…and I’ve come up with this answer before but I just don’t think it’s right….

just got through this with my daughter in her math course.

the negative sign before a parentheses is distributed over all the terms inside the parentheses, so each term inside the parentheses gets flipped (negated) once you remove the parentheses.

K….I think I’m closing in….

No, I’m not. I went wrong somewhere in here:
-1.2x+13.6x+364.4=0
12.4x+364.4=0

Starting where @roundsquare left off:

x = (1.8x – 4x + 12.4x + 136.4)
x = ((1.8 – 4 + 12.4)x + 136.4)
x = (((1.8 – 4) + 12.4)x + 136.4)
x = ((-2.2 + 12.4)x + 136.4)
x = 10.2x + 136.4

@ratboy Thank you. That was the last problem in a section, and I have one more section, about 22 questions, to do. So I set that last one aside for now. I’ll get back to it when I finish this last section. Thank you. TTU soon…..

Treating the minus sign as a factor ’-1’ in a multiplication might help, so -x is the same as -1 times x. When x is the sum of say a + b +c you can also write -1 times a + -1 times b + -1 times c.

@Dutchess_III – I find it totally awesome that you are learning algebra. Yotta zetta mega cool !

@mattbrowne Heh! I’m RE learning it dude! I’ve taken it before, but it was a long time ago. I’m on plotting slopes now. It’s SOOOOOOO easy IF you ignore all their directions and explanations and figure out what it is you need to do, and come up with your own formula for remembering it. I don’t know why they have to make it so complicated.

@Dutchess_III Its because they don’t think people can learn concepts so they need to give directions. Its sad, math books teach math in exactly the wrong way.

As a member of other online forums:

Bravo for being forthcoming and stating that you were seeking homework assistance.

@SecondHandStoke I’m a teacher, not a student. :)

^A noble profession.

It did my uncle very well.

Probably the relative I respect the most.

Since I’ve been here for 4 years, I knew I could post the question that way and they’d know why I was really asking it.

No! Wait. I forgot..I took an college level algebra refresher course. Yeah! I really WAS looking for help with my homework! (I aced the class, guys. Thanks! :)

Algebra? Hides under his bed, quivering with terror…

Algebra is fun @NomoreY_A!!

You must have more smarts than I do, which in truth, ain’t saying much for you. I could never figure out how the hell you get numbers from letters, Gives me the headache from hell.

Oh geez! Y x 2 = 12. Solve for X.

Well, ok – ummm… solve for X. Let me see now, uh.. hey is that a turtle, or a tortoise?

It’s a 6.

I knew that. I was just testing you. You believe that, don’t you?

Well, no. Here’s the test: Go read my original question. And answer it.
That will determine if you flunk out or not!

Well, I did read your original question, and I cant make head nor tails of it. I never could and never will, understand Algebra. C’mon, Dutchess. Give me a break here. You never use that crap real world anyway. You remind me of a girl I knew in H.S, who was always wanting to help me with my math homework. I knew she meant well and was well intentioned, but it always made me feel like a dunce. Like I Told her, many moons ago, if you don’t intend to be a physicist or rocket scientist you don’t need that crap anyway.

What is it you are majoring in, that you have to take that headache inducing horse shit anyway???

I was a teacher for an adult high school diploma completion program. I taught at the jail. That was just HS algebra. They had to have it to graduate.

I looked back on it…yeah, I screwed up. It’s been so long though I can’t, for the life of me, figure out where that damn -45x came from! Oh. It’s Trump. He always screws everything up.