Hi Juanita,

Whater the value of $h,$ on the left side of the equation you have $h + h + h$ which is more effiecently writte as $3 \times h$ or just $3h.$ hence the equation can be rewritten as

\[3h = -9.\]

The task is to write an equivalent equation of the form

\[h = \mbox{some number.}\]

Two operations on an equation that yield an equivalent equation are

1. add the same number to both sides of the equation
   
   
2. multiply both sides of the equation by the same non-zero number.

In your case if you multiply both sides of the equation by $\frac13$ you get

\[\frac13 \times 3h = \frac13 \times -9\]

which simplifies to

\[h = -3.\]

Penny