Chapter 1 - Foundations for Algebra - 1-8 An Introduction to Equations - Practice and Problem-Solving Exercises - Page 57: 59

n=0

In order to solve this algebraic expression, we must isolate the variable. A variable is the letter in the problem (for instance, in the equation x+2=10, x is the variable). Because addition and subtraction are inverse operations (they cancel each other out), we know we must add when a number is being subtracted from the variable and subtract when a number is being added to the variable. In the equation1=-1/4n+1, we must get rid of the 1, which is on the same side as n, in order to solve. Thus, we subtract on both sides of the equation to find that -1/4n=0. We need to cancel out the fraction, -1/4, in order to get n alone, so we multiply both sides by its reciprocal, -4/1, to get that n=0.