How do you solve $5 a - 38 = 17$ $5a-38=17$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2017-05-28T14:20:43

See a solution process below:

Step 1) Add $38$ $color(red)(38)$ to each side of the equation to isolate the $a$ $a$ term:

$5 a - 38 + 38 = 17 + 38$ $5a - 38 + color(red)(38) = 17 + color(red)(38)$

$5 a - 0 = 55$ $5a - 0 = 55$

$5 a = 55$ $5a = 55$

Step 2) Divide each side of the equation by $5$ $color(red)(5)$ to solve for $a$ $a$ while keeping the equation balanced:

$\frac{5 a}{5} = \frac{55}{5}$ $(5a)/color(red)(5) = 55/color(red)(5)$

$(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(5)))a)/cancel(color(red)(5)) = 11$

$a = 11$

How do you solve 5a-38=175a−38=175a-38=17?