Use the equation 2(x+4) + 6(x-1) = 14, to find x.

Firstly, you need to get rid of any brackets. You do this by expanding them. This becomes 2x + 8 + 6x - 6 = 14.

The next step is to get all the x's on one side, and all the numbers on the other. You already have all the x's on one side, so aim to get the numbers on the right. 8 minus 6 is 2, so subtract 2 away from 14 and you're left with 12. 

Group all the x's together. This can be done by adding together the 2x and the 6x. You are now left with 8x. 

Congrats - you're left with an equation that should now be straightforward to solve! 8x = 12. 

Divide 12 by 8 and you're left with 1.5. Therefore x = 1.5. To check, you can feed this into the original equation! 

Answered by Ursula R. Maths tutor

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