b. Solve linear equations with rational number coefficients, including equations whose solutions require expanding expressions using the distributive property and collecting like terms.

Albert Einstein once said, "Do not worry about your problems with mathematics; I assure you mine are far greater." You may want to tell your students to keep that in mind as they explore some equations that are a bit more complicated than what they've seen so far.

Basically, the point of solving these linear equations is just to get all the unknowns on one side of the equation, and all the plain old numbers on the other side. To do that, students should know do the opposite. If an equation says 8 = x + 3, you do the opposite by subtracting 3. If it says 5x = 25, you divide it by 5. They can pretend it's Opposite Day.

More than that, students should know to combine like terms and distribute when appropriate. For instance, solving the equation 6x = 4(x + 3) requires distributing the 4 into the parenthesis as well as subtracting 4x from both sides to combine both x terms.

Eventually, they should reduce the equation to one of the three forms mentioned earlier (x = a, a = a, or a = b) to find the answer or answers, if they exist. After a bit of practice, they should be able to tackle virtually any one-variable equation that crosses their path.