Idon't understand math at all. can you break this problem down step by step? x squared plus 4x minus 8 equals 5

X² + 4x - 8 = 5

This is a simple quadratic equation. Let's move everything to the left side to start:
x² + 4x - 8 - 5 = 5 - 5

Now we have:
x² + 4x - 13 = 0

In a quadratic equation, x = 

Therefore, we plug in a = 1, b = 4, and c = -13, and we find that x = -2 - sqrt{17} OR -2 + sqrt{17}.