Solving linear equations is an important and fundamental skill in algebra. In algebra, we are often presented with a problem where the answer is known, but part of the problem is missing. The missing part of the problem is what we seek to find. An example of such a problem is shown below. Notice the above problem has a missing part, or unknown, that is marked by `x` If we are given that the solution to this equation is `− 5`, it could be plugged into the equation, replacing the `x` with `− 5`. Now the equation comes out to a true statement! Notice also that if another number, for example, `3`, was plugged in, we would not get a true statement. Due to the fact that this is not a true statement, this demonstates that `3` is not the solution. However, depending on the complexity of the problem, this “guess and check” method is not very efficient. Thus, we take a more algebraic approach to solving equations. Here we will focus on what are called “one-step equations” or equations that only require one step to solve. While these equations often seem very fundamental, it is important to master the pattern for solving these problems so we can solve more complex problems.