What happened to the 3*3

April 13, 2026Mathematics

ScanSolve AI Answer

Answer

When you have $(x - 12) \div 3 \times 3$ , the operations of dividing by 3 and then multiplying by 3 are inverse operations. They cancel each other out.

Step-by-step solution

4 steps

Consider the left side of the equation from Step 2
$(x - 12) \div 3 \times 3$
Division by 3 can be written as multiplication by $\frac{1}{3}$ .
$(x - 12) \times \frac{1}{3} \times 3$
Multiply $\frac{1}{3}$ by 3.
$\frac{1}{3} \times 3 = \frac{3}{3} = 1$
Substitute this back into the expression.
$(x - 12) \times 1$ $= x - 12$
So, the $\div 3$ and $\times 3$ on the left side effectively cancel out, leaving only $x - 12$ .