Our ultimate goal is to figure out what m equals.The most important thing to remember is that whatever you do to the left you also do to the right.Let us start by adding 4m to both sides: 5m+4m-2=16-4m+4 ----> 9m-2=16Now since we want the letters on one side and the numbers on the other. Let's add 2 to both sides: 9m-2+2=16+2 ------> 9m=18Now since we want to find out what m equals not 9m. Let's divide both sides by 9: 9m/9=18/2 -----> m=2