What should be the first step to solve the equation? 2x + 9(x – 1) = 8(2x + 2) – 5

The equation has parentheses multiplied by numbers: 9(x − 1) and 8(2x + 2). First, use the distributive property to remove the parentheses, giving 2x + 9x − 9 = 16x + 16 − 5. Then you can combine like terms on each side.

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