Question of the Week No.7 (Algebra)

What value of x satisfies the following equation:

Explanation: So, there are a few ways of solving an equation like this.

Approach 1: If you have access to a calculator, you can graph the equation on the left and the equation on the right and find where they intersect at.

I’m obviously using the graphing utility on Desmos, but if you have access to a TI calculator, you can access the graphing utility and follow the same process. Now, you might run into the issue where the window on your screen doesn’t show the two lines intersecting, but there’s an easy fix. If you’re working on a TI graphing calculator, click on Menu, click on 4 (Window/Zoom) and click on A (Zoom - Fit). This should help you see where both lines intersect.

To get the exact value of intersection, click on Menu, click on 6 (Analyze Graph), and click on 4 (Intersection). When you do this, you should see a dotted vertical line on your screen. All you’re going to do, is set an initial analyzing point, always to the left of where the intersect, and you’re going to drag the area out until a little after they intersect and click Enter. Once you do this, the calculator will tell you the exact x value where they intersect at, in this case x = -4.

Approach 2: The second way to solve this problem is by using the traditional approach of solving this equation manually for x. Click here to open the worked out solution to this exercise.