The algebraic process you use to isolate a variable in order to find what values

So for example:

5x + 3y = 7.

To isolate x, we do the following:

Subtract 3y from both sides:

5x + 3y - 3y = 7 - 3y

Which gives:

5x = 7 - 3y

Now we need to divide both sides by 5.

5x / 5 = (7 - 3y) / 5

x = (7 - 3y) / 5

We have now isolated x.

Here's a slightly harder one:

2x + 8 = x + 6y

To isolate for x, we need to get all x terms on one side:

So we subtract x from both sides:

2x + 8 - x = x + 6y - x

x + 8 = 6y

Now we need to get rid of the 8 on the left hand side of the equals sign:

x + 8 - 8 = 6y - 8

x = 6y - 8