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.
2. Solve a two step equation by multiplying at the end instead of dividing. The principle for solving this type of equation is the same: use arithmetic to combine the constants, isolate the variable term, and then isolate the variable without the term. Let's say you're working with the equation x/5 + 7 = -3.