We are given the equation x plus 8 equals 23. Our goal is to find the value of x that makes this equation true. In this equation, x is the unknown variable we need to solve for, while 8 and 23 are known numbers.
Think of an equation like a balanced scale. The equals sign means both sides must weigh the same. On the left side we have x plus 8, and on the right side we have 23. To solve for x, we need to keep the scale balanced while isolating x.
To solve for x, we need to isolate it on one side of the equation. Since we're adding 8 to x, we'll subtract 8 from both sides to cancel it out. This keeps the equation balanced. So we have x plus 8 minus 8 equals 23 minus 8. The plus 8 and minus 8 on the left side cancel each other out, leaving us with just x. On the right side, 23 minus 8 equals 15. Therefore, x equals 15.
Now let's verify our solution by substituting x equals 15 back into the original equation. We replace x with 15, giving us 15 plus 8 equals 23. Simplifying the left side, 15 plus 8 equals 23. Since both sides of the equation are equal (23 equals 23), our solution is correct. The checkmark confirms that x equals 15 is indeed the right answer.
Let's practice with similar equations. For the first example: x plus 5 equals 12. To solve, we subtract 5 from both sides: x equals 12 minus 5, which gives us x equals 7. For the second example: x plus 15 equals 30. We subtract 15 from both sides: x equals 30 minus 15, which gives us x equals 15. These examples show the consistent pattern of isolating the variable by performing the same operation on both sides of the equation.