Transcript Solving Literal Equations - Troup 6

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Sometimes you have a formula and you
need to solve for some variable other than
the "standard" one.
Example: Perimeter of a square
P=4s
It may be that you need to solve this
equation for s, so you can plug in a
perimeter and figure out the side length.
This process of solving a formula for a given
variable is called "solving literal equations".
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Here's how "solving literal equations" works:
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Suppose you wanted to take the formula for
the perimeter of a square and solve it for ‘s’
(or the side length) instead of using it to
solve for perimeter.
P=4s
How can you get the ‘s’ on a side by itself?
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P=4s
Just as when you were solving linear
equations, you want to isolate the variable.
So, what do you have to do to get rid of the ‘4’?
P=4s
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That’s right, you have to divide by ‘4’. You
also have to remember to divide both sides
by 4.
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This new formula allows us to use the perimeter
formula to find the length of the sides of a square
if we know the perimeter.
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Multiply both sides by 2.
Subtract ‘c’ from each side.
As you can see, we sometimes must do
more that one step in order to isolate the
targeted variable.
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You just need to follow the same steps that
you would use to solve any other ‘Multi-Step
Equation’.
Work these on your paper.
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Solve for t.
Check your answers.
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