Balancing the equation

Example 1 An equation is like a weighing scale - both sides should always be perfectly balanced. For example, suppose you are trying to find out how many sweets are in the bag shown in the drawing here. By subtracting three sweets from each side, we maintain the balance of the scale. We can now see that one bag is equivalent to two sweets. Written algebraically, this becomes: x + 3 = 5 [Subtract 3 from both sides, gives] x = 2 Example 2 In the next example, we can see that two bags of sweets are equivalent to six sweets: We can divide both sides in half: Written algebraically, this becomes: 2x = 6 [Divide both sides by 2, gives] x = 3