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.
Process for Solving Linear Equations. 1  If the equation contains any fractions use the least common denominator to clear the fractions. We will do this by multiplying both sides of the equation by the LCD. 2  Simplify both sides of the equation. This means clearing out any parenthesis, and combining like terms.