# Equations with parentheses

CCSS Math: 8.EE.C.7b

## Video transcript

We have the equation negative 9 minus this whole expression, 9x minus 6-- this whole thing is being subtracted from negative 9-- is equal to 3 times this whole expression, 4x plus 6. Now, a good place to start is to just get rid of these parentheses. And the best way to get rid of these parentheses is to kind of multiply them out. This has a negative 1-- you just see a minus here, but it's just really the same thing as having a negative 1-- times this quantity. And here you have a 3 times this quantity. So let's multiply it out using the distributive property. So the left-hand side of our equation, we have our negative 9. And then we want to multiply the negative 1 times each of these terms. So negative 1 times 9x is negative 9x, and then negative 1 times negative 6 is plus 6, or positive 6. And then that is going to be equal to-- let's distribute the 3-- 3 times 4x is 12x. And then 3 times 6 is 18. Now what we want to do, let's combine our constant terms, if we can. We have a negative 9 and a 6 here, on this side, we've combined all of our like terms. We can't combine a 12x and an 18, so let's combine this. So let's combine the negative 9 and the 6, our two constant terms on the left-hand side of the equation. So we're going to have this negative 9x. So we're going to have negative 9x plus-- let's see, we have a negative 9 and then plus 6-- so negative 9 plus 6 is negative 3. So we're going to have a negative 9x, and then we have a negative 3, so minus 3 right here. That's the negative 9 plus the 6, and that is equal to 12x plus 18. Now, we want to group all the x terms on one side of the equation, and all of the constant terms-- the negative 3 and the positive 18 on the other side-- I like to always have my x terms on the left-hand side, if I can. You don't have to have them on the left, so let's do that. So if I want all my x terms on the left, I have to get rid of this 12x from the right. And the best way to do that is to subtract 12x from both sides of the equation. So let me subtract 12x from the right, and subtract 12x from the left. Now, on the left-hand side, I have negative 9x minus 12x. So negative 9 minus 12, that's negative 21. Negative 21x minus 3 is equal to-- 12x minus 12x, well, that's just nothing. That's 0. So I could write a 0 here, but I don't have to write anything. That was the whole point of subtracting the 12x from the left-hand side. And that is going to be equal to-- so on the right-hand side, we just are left with an 18. We are just left with that 18 here. These guys canceled out. Now, let's get rid of this negative 3 from the left-hand side. So on the left-hand side, we only have x terms, and on the right-hand side, we only have constant terms. So the best way to cancel out a negative 3 is to add 3. So it cancels out to 0. So we're going to add 3 to the left, let's add 3 to the right. And we get-- the left-hand side of the equation, we have the negative 21x, no other x term to add or subtract here, so we have negative 21x. The negative 3 and the plus 3, or the positive 3, cancel out-- that was the whole point-- equals-- what's 18 plus 3? 18 plus 3 is 21. So now we have negative 21x is equal to 21. And we want to solve for x. So if you have something times x, and you just want it to be an x, let's divide by that something. And in this case, that something is negative 21. So let's divide both sides of this equation by negative 21. Divide both sides by negative 21. The left-hand side, negative 21 divided by negative 21, you're just left with an x. That was the whole point behind dividing by negative 21. And we get x is equal to-- what's 21 divided by negative 21? Well, that's just negative 1. Right? You have the positive version divided by the negative version of itself, so it's just negative 1. So that is our answer. Now let's verify that this actually works for that original equation. So let's substitute negative 1 into that original equation. So we have negative 9-- I'll do it over here; I'll do it in a different color than we've been using-- we have negative 9 minus-- that 1 wasn't there originally, it's there implicitly-- minus 9 times negative 1. 9 times-- I'll put negative 1 in parentheses-- minus 6 is equal to-- well, actually, let me just solve for the left-hand side when I substitute a negative 1 there. So the left-hand side becomes negative 9, minus 9 times negative 1 is negative 9, minus 6. And so this is negative 9 minus-- in parentheses-- negative 9 minus 6 is negative 15. So this is equal to negative 15. And so we get negative 9-- let me make sure I did that-- negative 9 minus 6, yep, negative 15. So negative 9 minus negative 15, that's the same thing as negative 9 plus 15, which is 6. So that's what we get on the left-hand side of the equation when we substitute x is equal to negative 1. We get that it equals 6. So let's see what happens when we substitute negative 1 to the right-hand side of the equation. I'll do it in green. We get 3 times 4 times negative 1 plus 6. So that is 3 times negative 4 plus 6. Negative 4 plus 6 is 2. So it's 3 times 2, which is also 6. So when x is equal to negative 1, you substitute here, the left-hand side becomes 6, and the right-hand side becomes 6. So this definitely works out.