Re: solving algebraic equations

Paul Sperry wrote:
> In article <fcednVlTC70BjyDanZ2dnUVZ_uGknZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, OP
> <facetious_nickname@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
[snip]
> Solve the first equation for B; substitute that solution for B in the
> second equation and solve the result for A.
>> Thanks for any hints.

Wow, talk about rusty!  I thought there was some kind of crazy 
voodoo going on there. Thanks for the push in the right direction.

Once I plugged "B = b - Aa" into the second equation it took me 
about 5 minutes of staring at it to recognize that

Ac - Aa = d - b

is equal to

A(c - a) = d - b

is equal to

A = (d - b)/(c - a)

Nice to know they haven't repealed the distributive property since 
the last time I used my brain. Of course, I'm still probably doing 
it wrong, but oh well! :-)