Determine which symbol can replace the ? to make the following an equation: 1/2x ? 1/3x - 5
To find the symbol that can replace the "?" and make the equation correct, we need to determine whether the two terms on either side of the "?" are equal or not.
The equation is: 1/2x ? 1/3x - 5
Since both terms have an "x" in the denominator, we need to get them to have the same denominator before comparing them.
To do this, we multiply the first term by 3/3 and the second term by 2/2 to eliminate the denominators:
(1/2x)*(3/3) ? (1/3x)*(2/2) - 5
= 3/6x ? 2/6x - 5
Now, we can compare the two terms:
3/6x ? 2/6x - 5
Since the denominators are the same, we compare the numerators:
3/6x > 2/6x or 3/6x < 2/6x
Therefore, the "?" symbol would be ">" or "<" depending on whether we want the equation to be greater than or less than.