5 (x+1) = 20

What is is the answer?

Answer: x = 3

Step-by-step explanation: To solve this equation for x, our first step is to distribute the 5 through the parentheses on the left side.

5 times x is 5x and 5 times 1 is 5.

So we have 5x + 5 = 20.

Next, we need to isolate the x term by subtracting 5 from both sides of the equation to get 5x = 15.

Finally, we divide both sides of the equation by 5 to get x = 3 which is the solution to our equation.

It's very easy to make careless mistakes when using the distributive property so make sure to check your answer.

In this problem, to check our answer, we substitute 3 back in for x in the original equation and we have 3 + 1 which is 4 and 5 x 4 which is 20 so our answer checks.

Steps to solve:

5 (x + 1) = 20

~Distributive property

5x + 5 = 20

~Subtract 5 to both sides

5x + 5 - 5 = 20 - 5

~Simplify

5x = 15

~Divide 5 to both sides

5x/5 = 15/5

~Simplify

x = 3

Best of Luck!