College Algebra CLEP Prep Practice Exam

To solve the equation 3x + 5 = 16, we need to move the constant term (5) to the other side of the equation. This is known as the inverse operation, and in this case, we need to use subtraction to cancel out the addition of 5. Since addition and subtraction are inverse operations, we can rewrite the equation as 3x = 16 - 5, which simplifies to 3x = 11. Then, to isolate x, we divide both sides by the coefficient of x, which in this case is 3. This gives us the final solution x = 11/3 or 3.667. Therefore, subtraction is the correct operation to use when solving the equation 3x + 5 = 16. Option A (Addition) and option B (Multiplication) are incorrect because they will