Why is this correct? Why am I allowed to simplify just the top of this faction and leave the bottom? I thought whatever you do to the top you must do to the bottom

There's no reason why the 5 at the right hand side becomes 25 in the second line. Also, you're missing the sign when taking the square root of both sides. Here are the correct steps.

Start with

Add like terms:

Divide both sides by 2:

Take the square root of both sides, considering both signs for the right hand side:

okay wait before i answer, is this for your points on a graph?

answer: idk wbu

step-by-step explanation: