You would need to write a solvable equation, and you can do this because you know that angles in a triangle add up 180° so the missing angle must be (180 - 9x). This makes the equation: 5x + 9 + x + (180 - 9x) = 180 6x + 9 + 180 - 9x = 180 -3x + 189 = 180 - 189 -3x = -9 ÷ -3 x = 3