Solve 3(2x + 5) = 4 – x

The first thing to do in this problem is to expand the brackets. This means we times whatever is in the bracket by the number on the outside, in this instance the number is 3. We do not worry about the right hand side of the equation right now.  This gives us 6x + 15 = 4 - x . We must now collect like terms on each side of the equation. This means x's on one side adn numbers on the other. If we minus 15 from both sides and add x to both sides this collects the terms of either side of the equation. This results in the equation becoming 7x = -11 . We then want x to be on it's own so we divide both sides by 7. x therefore = -11/7.