Big Ideas Math Integrated I, 2016
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Big Ideas Math Integrated I, 2016 View details
4. Solving Exponential Equations
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Exercise 43 Page 304

Rewrite the terms so that they have a common base.

All real numbers.

Practice makes perfect
To solve the given exponential equation, we will start by rewriting the terms so that they have a common base.
3^(3x+6) = 27^(x+2)
3^(3x+6) = ( 3^3 )^(x+2)
3^(3x+6) = 3^(3(x+2))
3^(3x+6) = 3^(3x+6)

Now, we have two equivalent expressions with the same base. If both sides of the equation are equal, the exponents must also be equal. 3^(3x+6) = 3^(3x+6) ⇔ 3x+6 = 3x+6 Finally, we will solve the equation 3x+6 = 3x+6 by subtracting 3x from both sides. 3x+6 = 3x+6 ⇔ 6=6 ✓ Note that the equation produces a true statement for all values of the variable x. Therefore, the solutions to the equation are all real numbers.