How do you solve $\frac { ( b + 1) } { 2} = \frac { ( b - 2) } { 5}$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-21T13:42:15

$b=-3$

Multiply both sides by 2 and both sides by 5 to get: $5(b+1) = 2(b-2)$

Then expand the brackets: $5b+5 = 2b-4$

Then take all unknowns to one side, and all constant to the other to give: $5b - 2b = -4 -5$

Then simplify: $3b = -9$

Then divide both sides by 3: $b = -9/3$

The answer can then be simplified to: $b = -3$ .

To check, substitute $b = -3$ into both sides to see if they are the same: $((-3+1))/2 = -1$ and $((-3-2))/5 = -1$

Both answers are $-1$ so it is correct.

Hope this helps!

How do you solve \frac { ( b + 1) } { 2} = \frac { ( b - 2) } { 5}\frac { ( b + 1) } { 2} = \frac { ( b - 2) } { 5}?