Question

question 8 of 10 which would not be a step in solving $3x + 1 + 2x = 2 + 4x$? a. collect like terms. b. isolate the variable. c. use the distributive property. d. collect variable terms on one side.

Explanation:

To solve \(3x + 1+2x = 2 + 4x\), we can:

• Collect like terms (e.g., combine \(3x\) and \(2x\) to get \(5x\)), so option A is a valid step.
• Isolate the variable (after collecting like terms, we can move terms to isolate \(x\)), so option B is a valid step.
• Collect variable terms on one side (e.g., move \(4x\) to the left or \(5x\) to the right), so option D is a valid step.
• The distributive property (\(a(b + c)=ab+ac\)) is not needed here as there are no parentheses to distribute over. So option C is not a step in solving this equation.

Answer:

C. Use the distributive property.