Originally posted by McDuck
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Woooo, "X" the unknown.
Why do letters have to equal numbers? I never hurt anybody"
The trick here is to think of a set of scales,
The ones in the picture are of some ancient Egyptian scales.
The heart of a scribe is being weighed against a feather. Apparently standards for public officials were very high at the time.
So, if you think of the = sign as the balance point in the scales.
You can keep balance, or equality, as long as you do the same to both sides.
Usually that thing you do is taking the same thing away form both sides, until only the thing you want is left.
x + 2 = 20
Subtract 2 from both sides.
x + 2 - 2 = 20 - 2
we know that 2 -2 = 0
so .
x + 0 = 20 - 2
Therefore
x = 18
* In this case we mean equal in quantity,. Obviously they are not equal in other ways, position for example, you can't have two things in the same place at the same time. Or one thing in two places at one time...(Yes, that's why fractional reserve banking is a fraud).
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