Please help me find the value of 'P', show me the step-by-step process.

Hi Humblelearner. That's a good start; keep going.

Continue, by using the distributive property to multiply everything you can (that is, get rid of the grouping symbols). If you're not sure what that means, let us know.

Next, move all the variable terms (terms containing p) to one side, and move all the constants to the other side. Then, combine like-terms. At that point, there's one more step, to solve for p. What answer do you get?

By the way, in your last line above, we don't need to write those grouping symbols around the term 275000000·p or around the expression 176000000(1-p).

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Hi Humblelearner. That's a good start; keep going.

Continue, by using the distributive property to multiply everything you can (that is, get rid of the grouping symbols). If you're not sure what that means, let us know.

Next, move all the variable terms (terms containing p) to one side, and move all the constants to the other side. Then, combine like-terms. At that point, there's one more step, to solve for p. What answer do you get?

By the way, in your last line above, we don't need to write those grouping symbols around the term 275000000·p or around the expression 176000000(1-p).

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Thank you so much, but could you actually show me the step-by-step process mathematically? I already know the answer is 0.343 but I just want to see the method of solving it.
 
Hi. Here's an example that matches the form of your last line.

2(1 + 0.7) = 5p + 10(1 - p)

Look inside each set of grouping symbols, to see if you can do any arithmetic. We see expressions 1+0.7 and 1-p. We can't subtract p from anything because its value is unknown, but we can add 1+0.7 (something I forgot to mention, in my first reply's steps).

2(1.7) = 5p + 10(1 - p)

We can multiply 2(1.7)

3.4 = 5p + 10(1 - p)

We've simplified the left-hand side of the beginning equation. To remove those grouping symbols on the right-hand side, we use the Distributive Property. That property tells us that both terms inside get multiplied by the factor 10 outside -- that's 10×1=10 and 10×(-p)=-10p.

3.4 = 5p + 10 - 10p

We've simplified the equation to four terms; two of them are constants (3.4 and 10) and two of them are variable (5p and -10p). Next, we need to combine like-terms. That is, we would like all constants on one side and all variable terms on the other side, so that we may combine each pair into a single term. Subtract 10 from each side, leaving the p-terms on the right.

3.4 - 10 = 5p - 10p

Combine like-terms (i.e., do the arithmetic).

-6.6 = (5 - 10)p

-6.6 = -5p

Solving for p means writing the value of p, not the value of -5p. The last step is to divide each side by p's coefficient (-5) and simplify.

-6.6/(-5) = (-5/-5)p

1.32 = p

Feel free to ask specific questions.

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