The word for the punctuation mark, on the other hand, comes from Îºá¿¶Î»Î¿Î½ (or kÅlon), which means âlimbâ or âclauseâ â and it is used because one of the main functions of the colon is to separate two clauses, where the second clause explains or follows from the first.
The goal in solving an equation is to get the variable by itself on one side of the equation and a number on the other side of the equation. To isolate the variable, we must reverse the operations acting on the variable. We do this by performing the inverse of each operation on both sides of the equation.
It takes two steps to solve an equation or inequality that has more than one operation: Simplify using the inverse of addition or subtraction. Simplify further by using the inverse of multiplication or division. Remember, when you multiply or divide an inequality by a negative number, you must reverse the inequality symbol. Click on each equation to see how it is solved.