How do you solve $abs(2n-5)=7$ ?

Question

1785 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-05-09T20:28:27

The answer to the problem is $n=6 " and " n=-1$

With absolute value, you'll have two answers; one of them assuming $2n-5$ is positive and one assuming $2n-5$ is negative.

Therefore, we have to set it up like this:

$2n-5=7$

$2n-5=-7$

We set it up like this because $abs(7)$ and $abs(-7)$ both equal $7$ .

We can solve both equations pretty easily:

$2n-5=7$
$2n=12$
$n=color(red)(6)$

$2n-5=-7$
$2n=-2$
$n=color(red)(-1)$

How do you solve abs(2n-5)=7abs(2n-5)=7?