72x+1 - 4(72x) =1029
I think the first step should be
I will guess that the instructions were to "solve the equation".
72x+1-22.72x = 3.73 what should i do with the 22 and 3?
I will guess that you are using decimal points to represent multiplication, so the above is actually as follows:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle 7^{2x+1}\, -\, (2^2)(7^{2x})\, =\, (3)(7^3)\)
If there aren't 2 and 3 I can just make it like this 2x+1-2x = 3 right?
I'm sorry, but I can't guess what this means...?
You have a right-hand side which neatly factors into primes:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle 1,029\, =\, (3^1)(7^3)\)
This (strongly!) suggests that the left-hand side should be converted to the two same primes. So try that:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle 7^{2x+1}\, =\, (7^{2x})(7^1)\, =\, 7(7^{2x})\)
This means that the left-hand side is:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle 7(7^{2x})\, -\, 4(7^{2x})\)
If they'd have given you this:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle 7y\, -\, 4y\)
...how would you have simplified? Then how can you simplify what they gave you here? Then where does this lead?