Grade 8 Expressions & Equations Missing Number
Grade 8 expressions and equations missing number sheet: 24 problems on multi-step linear equations, two-step equations.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Find the number that belongs in each blank.
- 1.Solve: 5x + 3 = -27
- 2.Solve: -1x + 3 = 8
- 3.Solve: 6x + 8 = 2
- 4.Solve: -4x + (-17) = 7
- 5.Solve: 8x + 1 = 9
- 6.Solve: -3x + (-1) = 29
- 7.Solve: 4x + (-6) = 26
- 8.Solve: 2x + (-7) = 11
- 9.Solve: 4x + 17 = -11
- 10.Solve: 2x + 8 = 10
- 11.Solve: 1x + (-14) = -4
- 12.Solve: 3x + 18 = 30
- 13.Solve: -7x + (-10) = -17
- 14.Solve: 2x + 7 = 23
- 15.Solve: -6x + (-12) = -48
- 16.Solve: -9x + (-3) = -30
- 17.Solve: 6x + (-18) = 42
- 18.Solve: 6x + (-2) = 52
- 19.Solve: -7x + 7 = 21
- 20.Solve: 4x + (-17) = 11
- 21.Solve: -6x + (-17) = -23
- 22.Solve: 1x + (-19) = -11
- 23.Solve: -3x + 20 = 17
- 24.Solve: 1x + (-11) = -4
What this worksheet covers
24 expressions and equations problems fill this missing number page; problem 9 asks "Solve: 4x + 17 = -11", and the sheet stays at that level throughout. What makes this set particular: nineteen of the 24 problems involve a negative quantity and the numbers run as high as 52. Further down, problem 17 asks "Solve: 6x + (-18) = 42". It is written against Common Core 8.EE.7 — Expressions & Equations, grade 8.
Skills practised
The grade 8 expressions and equations sequence covers multi-step linear equations, operations in scientific notation and integer exponent rules; this page sits inside it. What a student is asked to do here is multi-step linear equations and two-step equations. To finish it, a student has to track direction as well as magnitude. Fourteen different answers appear across the 24 problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.
About the missing number format
The 24 problems here move the unknown around, so a student solves for a missing part as often as for a result; problem 9, "Solve: 4x + 17 = -11" is one of them. A missing coefficient or constant asks the student to reason about the structure of the expression, which is the algebraic habit itself.
Set A, Set B and Set C
The three sets come from the same generator with three different seeds: same skill, same layout, fresh numbers, and an answer key computed with the problems. Where Set A's problem 13 is "Solve: -7x + (-10) = -17", Set B's is "Solve: 5x + (-9) = -39".
How to use this worksheet
Have the student estimate before computing, then compare. At grade 8 an expressions and equations answer that is wildly off should announce itself, and building that reflex matters as much as the 24 answers. Print Set B of this expressions and equations missing number before writing on Set A; the same skill worked twice a week apart tells you far more than once.
One mistake to watch for
The distributive property only reaches the first term: 3(x + 4) becomes 3x + 4. On this grade 8 missing number, problem 17 ("Solve: 6x + (-18) = 42") is the kind of item where it shows.
The multiplier is being attached to the nearest term only.
Draw arrows from the multiplier to each term inside the bracket before writing anything.
Other grade 8 expressions and equations formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 8 Adding Numbers in Scientific Notation, 16 problems
- Timed Drill — 8.EE.3 — Scientific Notation Division Practice, 22 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 8 Subtracting Numbers in Scientific Notation, 16 problems
- Word Problems — Grade 8 Word Problems: Writing and Solving Linear Equations, 14 problems
A step either side
The same format one grade down and one grade up — the easier sheet is often the faster fix when this one is not landing.
- Grade 7 Expressions & Equations Missing Number — grade 7, 24 problems
Missing Number sheets in other grade 8 topics
Six PDFs, no sign-up: three versions of this grade 8 expressions and equations missing number and three answer keys, each 24 problems long.