ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Basic Operations Videos 58 videos

Operations with Rational Expressions
8687 Views

It's impressive that these expressions are able to stay so rational even when they're having operations performed on them.

Numbers and Operations: Elementary Number Theory
606 Views

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. But what happened when they got up there? They’ve been gone an awfully long time…

SAT Math 7.3 Algebra and Functions
318 Views

SAT Math 7.3 Algebra and Functions

See All

Solving Two-Step Equations Using Addition and Subtraction 10212 Views


Share It!


Description:

Solving two-step equations can be tricky, but at least they’re easier than doing the Texas Two-Step. We trip over our feet so often you’d think we were a centipede.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Two-Step Equations using Addition and Subtraction, a la Shmoop.

00:10

Darlo is your average foreign exchange student.

00:12

He hails from a country no one can pronounce, dresses like it's 1978, and is hopelessly

00:18

in love with the wrong girl. In a desperate effort to win McKenzie's heart,

00:27

Darlo enters the Spring Talent Show.

00:30

Unfortunately his only talent is disco...and the ability to grow more chest hair than a

00:35

gorilla in a leisure suit. Darlo boogies away for three rounds of the

00:41

tune "Disco Love" and six minutes of "Dance Fever."

00:45

If Darlo continues these dance moves for exactly ten minutes before getting annihilated by

00:49

McKenzie's boyfriend...

00:50

...can you determine how long the song "Disco Love" is?

00:54

First we'll need to find the variable. Since we want to solve for Disco Love's length,

01:00

we'll call that x. Darlo dances "Disco Love" three times, so

01:05

we'll write 3x.

01:07

Now we'll add the six minutes he grooves to "Dance Fever."

01:12

Darlo dances for a total of 10 minutes. So 3x + 6 = 10

01:19

Like bad polyester, there is a whole bunch of stuff we don't need in order to solve for

01:24

x.

01:24

To get all the x's on one side, we can subtract 6 from both sides to get 3x equals 4.

01:38

Remember to make the same move on both sides of that equal sign to maintain equality.

01:43

To solve for x, divide both sides by 3. 3x divided by 3 equals x... so there you have

01:52

it! x equals four thirds.

01:55

This means that "Disco Love" is four-thirds minutes long...

01:59

...which, in English, is one minute and twenty seconds too long.

02:04

And one more thing.

02:05

Darlo, next time you fall for a girl, make sure her boyfriend isn't on the football team.

02:18

And the basketball team.

02:19

And the soccer team.

Related Videos

Numbers and Operations: Elementary Number Theory
606 Views

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. But what happened when they got up there? They’ve been gone an awfully long time…

Operations with Rational Expressions
8687 Views

It's impressive that these expressions are able to stay so rational even when they're having operations performed on them.

SAT Math 7.3 Algebra and Functions
318 Views

SAT Math 7.3 Algebra and Functions

SAT Math 6.4 Algebra and Functions
486 Views

SAT Math 6.4 Algebra and Functions

ACT Math 2.3 Pre-Algebra
2851 Views

ACT Math: Pre-Algebra Drill 2, Problem 3. Which of the following numbers is smallest?