1. The problem is to solve the equation $$\frac{x - 5}{4} = 3$$ for $x$. 2. The formula used here is to isolate $x$ by undoing the operations step-by-step. Since $x$ is subtracted by 5 and then divided by 4, we reverse these operations in the opposite order. 3. First, multiply both sides of the equation by 4 to eliminate the denominator: $$4 \times \frac{x - 5}{4} = 4 \times 3$$ which simplifies to $$x - 5 = 12$$ 4. Next, add 5 to both sides to isolate $x$: $$x - 5 + 5 = 12 + 5$$ which simplifies to $$x = 17$$ 5. Therefore, the solution to the equation is $x = 17$. This means when $x$ is 17, the original equation holds true.