The first step is to plug your  value into your equation to get 

.  

Then you must complete your multiplication which is 

.  

Then you subtract the  and you get 

.

To solve for x, we want x to stand alone or to be by itself.  To do that, we must cancel out or move everything away from the x. 

So, in the equation

we want x to be alone.  We need to move the 5 away from the x.  To do that, we will subtract 5.  If we subtract 5 on the left side of the equal sign, we must also subtract 5 from the right side of the equal sign.  So,

To solve for j, we want j to stand alone or to be by itself.  To do that, we must cancel out or move everything away from j. 

So, in the equation

we want j to be alone.  We need to move the  away from the j.  To do that, we will add 4.  If we add 4 on the left side of the equal sign, we must also add 4 on the right side of the equal sign.  So,

To solve for y, we want to get y to stand alone (we want y to be by itself).  So, in the equation

we want to solve for y. To do that, we need to cancel the .  To cancel it, we will have to add .  If we add  to the left side of the equation, we have to add  to the right side of the equation.  So, we get

To solve for a, we want to get a to stand alone (or to be by itself).  So, in the equation

we want a to stand alone.  To do that, we need to cancel out the .  To cancel it out, we need to subtract .  If we subtract  from the left side of the equal sign, we need to do the same to the right side of the equal sign. So,

To solve for x, we want to get x to stand alone or to be by itself.  So, in the equation

we want x to stand alone.  We need to do something with the .  To cancel out  we will  (or subtract 5).  If we subtract 5 on the left side of the equal sign, we need to subtract 5 on the right side of the equal sign.  So,

When solving for, you want to get  by itself on one side of the equation.

First, you subtract 7 from both sides of the equation. This leaves you with,

.

Then you divide each side by 4, which leaves you with

.

When solving for , you always want to get  alone. What you do to one side of the equation, you must also do to the other side of the equation.

So, the first step is to get alone and get rid of the 30. So, we subtract (subtract because opposite of addition) 30 from both sides of the equation and we are left with

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.

First, we must use the distributive property and multiply the number outside the parentheses by the numbers inside the parentheses.

First we have

.

Then,

Then,

.

Finally, to get the x by itself, we divide each side by 5.

The best way to start is double Hilary's age because Amelia is 4 years younger than twice (multiply by 2) Hilary's age.

So, we multiply 13 by 2, which is 26.

Then, we subtract four.

This leaves us with 22, Amelia's age.