Answer:
x = 
 (17/4 = 4.25)
 (17/4 = 4.25)
or x = 
 (-31/4 = -7.75)
 (-31/4 = -7.75)
Explanation:
| | is notation for absolute value 
absolute value - the distance that a number is from 0
 > essentially, you can think of absolute value as the "positive version" of whatever is inside of the | | 
if we have | x | = 20, we could really have (without the | | ) two versions of x
either | x | = 20 ; or | -x | = 20  has the same value as positive x
we set this up as two equations:
x = 20 or -x = 20
 ^ {multiply by -1}
x = 20 or x = -20
now, let's plug our understanding into the equation
|4x + 7| - 4 = 20
first, we should simplify our equation to:
|4x + 7| - 4 = 20
 + 4 + 4
 |4x + 7| = 24
now, let's separate this absolute value equation into two separate equations:
4x + 7 = 24:
 - 7 - 7 {subtract 7 from both sides to isolate x}
4x = 17 
÷4 ÷4 {divide both sides by 4 to get 1x}
x= 

or, 
4x + 7 = -24:
 - 7 -7 {subtract 7 from both sides to isolate x}
 4x = -31
÷4 ÷4 {divide both sides by 4 to get 1x}
 x = 

so, we know that 
x = 
 (17/4 = 4.25)
 (17/4 = 4.25)
or x = 
 (-31/4 = -7.75)
 (-31/4 = -7.75)
hope this helps!!