Linear Equation with Fractions

Algebrator can easily solve problems such as the one you posted on Yahoo Answers.

You start by entering the equation in an intuitive math editor.

An example using your equation is described below.

We need to factor the GFC (Greatest Common Factor).

Note: The "explain button", provides the mathematical logic involved in the selected step and the "visibility button"- allows to set the number of steps that will be described.

High Visibility provides more detail.

There are some key features of the software I like to stress in order to receive the most consistent benefits from this program:

1. Flash demos, found under the drop-down menu "Help->Tutors" - The demos are also available online at "https://softmath.com/demos/", where you may simply select any of the ".htm" files and the demo will play within your browser

2. Wizard button - for example, click the Wizard button and look under the category of "Line" to see the many useful templates for exploring linear equations

3. the drop-down menu "Solution->Settings" - in particular, notice the arithmetic settings (Real/Integer); if you are working a problem with real numbers in it and your setting is Integer then something like "0.123" is converted to "123/1000" as part of the solution process and this gets quite confusing to someone trying to learn a reasonable solution process; conversely, the fraction "1/4" will not be simplified to "0.25" if your setting for arithmetics is Integer.

Algebrator then adds the fractions.

You can check the rule applied by pressing the explain button.

Explanation for this (or any other) step is just a click away.

Finally, we isolate the variable in order to solve this linear equation.