Use mental math to guess the starting value for the table.
Between 3 and 4
Practice makes perfect
We want to use a table to estimate the solution of the given equation.
6b-3=17
In order to choose a good starting point for our table, let's pretend that the equation is 6b=17. What multiplied by 6 would get us close to 17? The values 2 or 3 would be equally valid, so let's try those in our table. We should also try surrounding numbers, in this case 1 and 4.
b
6b-3
=
Result
1
6( 1)-3
3
Not even close
2
6( 2)-3
9
Right direction, but still pretty far
3
6( 3)-3
15
Closer
4
6( 4)-3
18
A little too far
Since 3 got us pretty close to 17 and 4 took the result slightly too far, we know that the solution is between 3 and 4.
