5 plus what equals 42?

This is how to calculate "5 plus what equals 42?" In other words, 5 plus a number equals 42. What is that number? We start by converting this word problem into an equation where "what" is what we want to solve:

5 + what = 42

To solve this equation, we first add -5 to each side of the equal sign like this:

5 - 5 + what = 42 - 5

Then, we do the calculation to get the answer to "5 plus what equals 42?" as follows:

What = 37

The answer to "5 plus what equals 42?" is 37. You know this answer is correct because 5 plus 37 equals 42.

Plus What Equals Calculator
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