Chapter 1 - Foundations for Algebra - 1-8 An Introduction to Equations - Practice and Problem-Solving Exercises - Page 57: 53

$x=-6$

There is no negative or coefficient in front of the variable, so this problem is fairly easy to do in our head the traditional way. We see that we are adding 4, so we cancel this out by subtracting 4 on both sides. We recall that -2 minus 4 is -6, so $x=-6$.