Creating & Solving Equations

Most of algebra comes back to one move: keep an equation balanced while you peel away everything around the variable. Whatever you do to one side, you do to the other, until the variable stands alone.

• Solve linear equations by undoing operations in reverse — clear parentheses and fractions, gather the variable on one side, then isolate it.
• Create an equation from a word problem by naming the unknown and translating the relationship into symbols before you solve.
• Watch for the two special endings: an equation can have no solution (a false statement like $3 = 5$) or infinitely many (a true statement like $0 = 0$).

These are real, released Regents questions.