Solve for x: 3(x – 5) + 4 = 13.
Our first step will be to apply the distributive property to the left side of the equation:
\begin{aligned}3 x-15+4 & =13 & & \text { Distributive property } \\ 3x-11&=13&& \text { Simplify the left side } \\ 3 x-11+ 1 1 & =13+ 1 1 & & \text { Add } 1 1 \text { to both sides } \\3 x & =24 & & \\1 (3 x) & =\frac{ 1 }{ 3 }(24) & & \text { Multiply both sides by } \frac{1}{3} \\x & =8 & &\end{aligned}