Video Transcript
Find the value of 𝑥.
Before we answer this question, we have to go back and think a little bit about geometry and about triangles.
We have to remember that angles inside a triangle add up to one hundred and eighty degrees. What that means for us is that fifty-two degrees plus fifty-two degrees plus 𝑥 equals one hundred and eighty degrees; fifty-two plus fifty-two plus 𝑥 equals one hundred and eighty.
For our next step, we go ahead and add the fifty-two plus fifty-two. Our next line would say one hundred and four plus 𝑥 equals one hundred and eighty.
Now we have this problem: some number plus one hundred and four equals one hundred and eighty. To solve this problem, I’m actually going to subtract one hundred and four from both sides of our equation.
One hundred and four minus one hundred and four equals zero. One hundred and eighty minus one hundred and four equals seventy-six.
Now we have zero plus 𝑥 equals seventy-six, or 𝑥 equals seventy-six.
But we have to remember the context of our problem; and in context, we’re talking about an angle, and an angle is always measured in degrees. So we need to make sure that our final answer includes the degree symbol. 𝑥 equals seventy-six degrees.
