My math teachers had no problem with '42 = x' vs 'x = 42' as long as the steps made sense to get there. In fact they'd probably comment that there was no need to go with 'x = 42' if I obviously took a circuitous route simply to end up with x on the left side of the equation, as that would have demonstrated a lack of internalizing some of the base ideas of algebra and it's approach of equation symmetry.