Taking "Absolute Value Operator" as a common factor?

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If I have an equation like this and Im trying to solve for X

|x| + 4|x| = 40

Can I take the absolute Value (Modulus) as a common factor?

|x + 4x| = 40

and the proceed to solve for X?

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In general $|a|+|b|\ne|a+b|$

See here, for the general relation

We can write $$|x|(1+4)=40\implies 5|x|=40$$

Things become more clear if we substitute $|x|$ with $y$