Math Is Fun Forum

Nevermind lol, I have solved my ignorance on my own.

example:

(5)(5)(5)x=1
x=(1/5)*(1/5)*(1/5)

Man I'm retarded, sorry to waste anyone's time.

The way I look at it is like this, much like when you are working in algebra, if you do something to one side of an equation you have to do it to the other side of an equation for it to still be equal.

Well, like that, if we are working only on one side of an equation, if we do something to that side of the equation we have to do the opposite or inverse of that action for that side of the equation to still hold true. Simple example: if our equation was 5+5=10

If we decided to subtract 3 from the first side we'd get 5+5-3=10, well that's not true , but as long as we did the opposite of that our equation would still be true. 5+5-3+3=10, now it's true again.

Same goes for with the fractions, in essence when looking at

All we are doing is dividing that entire side of the equation, and at the same time multiplying the entire side of the equation by 4. Like this:

and at the same time

With what you are trying to do, you are dividing the same side of the equation by 8, twice. Going back to my simple example, 5+5=10,     your action would look something like this, 5+5-3-3=10. And that just can't work, if you do something to a side, you have to do the opposite to keep the equation equal.

So, what you did would look like this:

And that equation is definitely not the same as

Okay, maybe it was easier than I thought to simplify, I think I figured it out. I just wasn't sure if I should distribute first or FOIL first. And what I ended up with was this:

And it seems like you can divide, which seems weird, but it comes out with the right answer.

So, it seems that I can divide like that, and I simplified correctly?

Well, I can't figure out how to simplify this problem. But question, where does this equation that we are using come from?

Not sure how to type out a fraction on the forum, but I think this is the answer:

0

No, I haven't learned of Combinations yet. /sigh so much to learn lol

You should tell that to my girlfriend.

Now that's interesting, when I was trying to work out a formula that didn't involve a recurrence, I actually worked out these first two patterns and were trying to figure a way to use them both, but ultimately couldn't.

{1,5,14,30,55,91,140,204,285,385}

{4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,100}

And actually, I don't remember what I had done, but I had come to a pattern that went up by 4 constantly. I was working on the computer though and didn't save my notes.

I know that I'm capable, it's just that I'm 24 almost 25, and I haven't taken any math since I was 16 and even then in High School I never applied myself. It's a shame really, because now I'm in college and I'm taking college Algebra, which is almost sad really. I just feel like I'm really far behind, and I'm really not sure how to go about catching up quickly.

Alright, no worries, I appreciate you taking your time out to help me - so take all the time you need.

Okay, now that's awesome, but how did you guess the pattern was in the form of

? Is this a well known equation that I don't know?