Chapter 2 - Solving Equations - 2-2 Solving Two-Step Equations - Practice and Problem-Solving Exercises - Page 91: 11

$a=-12$

We need to get the a alone. Thus, we cancel out the addition by subtracting 2 on both sides. This leaves us with the equation $a/4=-3$. In order to cancel out division, we use multiplication, so we multiply both sides by 4 to get that a=-12. We plug -12 in for a and confirm that our answer is, indeed, correct.