Chapter 2 - Solving Equations - 2-1 Solving One-Step Equations - Practice and Problem-Solving Exercises - Page 86: 65

p=2.5

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 equation 4 ¼ =1 ¾ +p, we must get rid of the 1 ¾, which is on the same side as p, in order to solve. Thus, we subtract by 1 ¾ on both sides of the equation to find that p=2.5. When we plug 2.5 into the original equation and simplify, we get that 4 ¼= 4 ¼, so the solution is correct.