What is a equation?
An equation is a statement that asserts the equality of two expressions. For example, (2x + 2 = 8). In this question you would want to figure out what (x) meant.
What is a equivalent equation?
A equivalent equation is an equation that you might subtract, add, multiply, and divide on both side of the equal sign to figure out something like a variable in the equation.
How to solve a equivalent equation:
To solve an equivalent equation you must either divide, multiply, add, or subtract to finally get the variable on its own with another number on the other side of the equal sign. You must do the same to both sides the whole time. In the equation (2x + 2 = 8) you would probably want to subtract the +2 from each side. When working with equivalent equation there are certain rules to how it will work. The most important rule is to do the same thing to both side of the equal sign, or else your answer will be wrong. After you subtract the 2 from each side the equation will look like this (2x = 6). By making more moves to the equation it makes it easier to answer and it does not look as crazy as it might have in the past. Now, you still need to figure out what (x) is. So, by seeing that there is a 2 in front of the (x) it would be a good choice to divide both sides by 2 (making the 2 disappear). This would them just leave us to 2÷2=1 and 6÷2=3. By the end the equation will just show us the answer and it will look like this (x=3). You can either write the normal numbers out on paper or you can use algebra tiles to help. When using algebra tiles to should put a line in the middle to reference a equal sign in the equation, then on each side you put squares for however many variables there are in the equation and either circles or skinny rectangles for the constants. If any of the numbers are negative you can color them in and leave the positive ones white, this will help you make no mistake when using negatives and positives.
When solving one of these equations you should use the BFSD system. The (B) stands for brackets, which you should do first. Then (F) stand for fractions, which you will do second. After this you will sort =, which is what the (S) stands for. Lastly, you will divide, this will show you the answer at the end. If you get stuck on the dividing part and you are just using numbers look at the algebra tiles and distribute the constants into the variable and use fractions, once you do that you should have the answer.
Finally, if you come across an equation that has a fraction in it or multiple you must find a common denominator between all of the fractions and then solve the equation from there.
How to check you answer:
It is always a good idea to check your answer after you have solved an equation, just to make sure you got it right. To do this you must re-write out the equation and replace all the variables that you found the answer to and then solve the new equation. If the answer on both sides of the equation are the same number then you got it right, if not then you must go back and find the real answer to the question.