There are multiple ways to approach this problem, but all require an understanding of the properties of exponents. The student may rewrite the equation as 1/(a^0.5)=x

and then proceed to solve for a first by squaring both sides, which gives 

(1/a)=x^2 and then multiplying both sides by a to find  1=a(x^2).Finally, dividing both sides by x^2 isolates the desired variable.