Pre-Algebra Examples

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{1}{2} x + 5}$

Step 1

Simplify both sides.

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Step 1.1

Simplify the denominator.

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Step 1.1.1

Combine $\frac{1}{2}$ and $x$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{x}{2} + 5}$

Step 1.1.2

To write $5$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{2}{2}$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{x}{2} + 5 \cdot \frac{2}{2}}$

Step 1.1.3

Combine $5$ and $\frac{2}{2}$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{x}{2} + \frac{5 \cdot 2}{2}}$

Step 1.1.4

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{x + 5 \cdot 2}{2}}$

Step 1.1.5

Multiply $5$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{x - 3}{\frac{x + 10}{2}}$

Step 1.2

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = (x - 3) \frac{2}{x + 10}$

Step 1.3

Multiply $x - 3$ by $\frac{2}{x + 10}$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{(x - 3) \cdot 2}{x + 10}$

Step 1.4

Move $2$ to the left of $x - 3$ .

$\frac{2 x - 1}{x + 1} = \frac{2 (x - 3)}{x + 10}$

Step 2

Multiply the numerator of the first fraction by the denominator of the second fraction. Set this equal to the product of the denominator of the first fraction and the numerator of the second fraction.

$(2 x - 1) (x + 10) = (x + 1) (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3

Solve the equation for $x$ .

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Step 3.1

Simplify $(2 x - 1) (x + 10)$ .

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Step 3.1.1

Rewrite.

$0 + 0 + (2 x - 1) (x + 10) = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.2

Simplify by adding zeros.

$(2 x - 1) (x + 10) = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.3

Expand $(2 x - 1) (x + 10)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 3.1.3.1

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x (x + 10) - 1 (x + 10) = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.3.2

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x \cdot x + 2 x \cdot 10 - 1 (x + 10) = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.3.3

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x \cdot x + 2 x \cdot 10 - 1 x - 1 \cdot 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4

Simplify and combine like terms.

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Step 3.1.4.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 3.1.4.1.1

Multiply $x$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 3.1.4.1.1.1

Move $x$ .

$2 (x \cdot x) + 2 x \cdot 10 - 1 x - 1 \cdot 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4.1.1.2

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 2 x \cdot 10 - 1 x - 1 \cdot 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4.1.2

Multiply $10$ by $2$ .

$2 x^{2} + 20 x - 1 x - 1 \cdot 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4.1.3

Rewrite $- 1 x$ as $- x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 20 x - x - 1 \cdot 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4.1.4

Multiply $- 1$ by $10$ .

$2 x^{2} + 20 x - x - 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.1.4.2

Subtract $x$ from $20 x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$

Step 3.2

Simplify $(x + 1) \cdot (2 (x - 3))$ .

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Step 3.2.1

Simplify by multiplying through.

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Step 3.2.1.1

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 x + 2 \cdot - 3)$

Step 3.2.1.2

Multiply $2$ by $- 3$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = (x + 1) \cdot (2 x - 6)$

Step 3.2.2

Expand $(x + 1) (2 x - 6)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 3.2.2.1

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = x (2 x - 6) + 1 (2 x - 6)$

Step 3.2.2.2

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = x (2 x) + x \cdot - 6 + 1 (2 x - 6)$

Step 3.2.2.3

Apply the distributive property.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = x (2 x) + x \cdot - 6 + 1 (2 x) + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3

Simplify and combine like terms.

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Step 3.2.3.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 3.2.3.1.1

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x \cdot x + x \cdot - 6 + 1 (2 x) + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3.1.2

Multiply $x$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 3.2.3.1.2.1

Move $x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 (x \cdot x) + x \cdot - 6 + 1 (2 x) + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3.1.2.2

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x^{2} + x \cdot - 6 + 1 (2 x) + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3.1.3

Move $- 6$ to the left of $x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x^{2} - 6 \cdot x + 1 (2 x) + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3.1.4

Multiply $2 x$ by $1$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x^{2} - 6 x + 2 x + 1 \cdot - 6$

Step 3.2.3.1.5

Multiply $- 6$ by $1$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x^{2} - 6 x + 2 x - 6$

Step 3.2.3.2

Add $- 6 x$ and $2 x$ .

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 = 2 x^{2} - 4 x - 6$

Step 3.3

Move all terms containing $x$ to the left side of the equation.

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Step 3.3.1

Subtract $2 x^{2}$ from both sides of the equation.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 - 2 x^{2} = - 4 x - 6$

Step 3.3.2

Add $4 x$ to both sides of the equation.

$2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 - 2 x^{2} + 4 x = - 6$

Step 3.3.3

Combine the opposite terms in $2 x^{2} + 19 x - 10 - 2 x^{2} + 4 x$ .

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Step 3.3.3.1

Subtract $2 x^{2}$ from $2 x^{2}$ .

$19 x - 10 + 0 + 4 x = - 6$

Step 3.3.3.2

Add $19 x - 10$ and $0$ .

$19 x - 10 + 4 x = - 6$

Step 3.3.4

Add $19 x$ and $4 x$ .

$23 x - 10 = - 6$

Step 3.4

Move all terms not containing $x$ to the right side of the equation.

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Step 3.4.1

Add $10$ to both sides of the equation.

$23 x = - 6 + 10$

Step 3.4.2

Add $- 6$ and $10$ .

$23 x = 4$

Step 3.5

Divide each term in $23 x = 4$ by $23$ and simplify.

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Step 3.5.1

Divide each term in $23 x = 4$ by $23$ .

$\frac{23 x}{23} = \frac{4}{23}$

Step 3.5.2

Simplify the left side.

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Step 3.5.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $23$ .

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Step 3.5.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{23 x}{23} = \frac{4}{23}$

Step 3.5.2.1.2

Divide $x$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{4}{23}$

Step 4

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$x = \frac{4}{23}$

Decimal Form:

$x = 0.17391304 \dots$