Sometimes an equation will have multiples of an unknown, eg, 5y = 20. To solve this you need to get the unknown on its own. To do this, divide both sides by 5.

5y = 20
5y ÷ 5 = 20 ÷ 5
y = 4

Sometimes an equation will have multiples of an unkown and other numbers, eg, 3x + 2 = 8

In equations of this type, your aim is to get all the 'x's (or unknowns) on one side and all the numbers on the other.

Example

Let's solve the equation 3x + 2 = 8. We can show this in a picture like this, where each bag is an 'x'.

3x + 2 = 8

We want to get the 'x' on it's own. Start by subtracting 2 from both sides:

3x + 2 - 2 = 8 - 2
3x = 6

Then divide by 3:

So x = 2