How do you solve $5/(x+4) = 5/(3(x+1))$ ?

Question

1791 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2015-10-20T18:05:57

The solution is $x = 1/2$

In order to solve

$5/(x+4) = 5/(3(x+1))$

Begin by dividing both sides by 5.

$1/(x+4) = 1/(3(x+1))$

Then take the reciprocal of both sides:

$x+4 = 3(x+1)$

Expand the term on the right to be:

$x+4 = 3x+3$

Through some simple algebra you should be able to show that:

$1 = 2x$

$1/2 = x$

Checking the answer by substituting $1/2$ for x, we can see that both sides will be equal:

$5/(1/2+4) = 5/(3(1/2+1))$

$5/(4.5) = 5/(3/2+3)$

$5/(4.5) = 5/(4.5)$

How do you solve 5/(x+4) = 5/(3(x+1))5/(x+4) = 5/(3(x+1))?