Algebraic Notation
What is algebra?
- Algebra is a topic in mathematics that uses letters to represent general (or unknown) numbers
- x and y are two unknown numbers
- More information is needed to find their values
- x and y are two unknown numbers
- Letters are also called variables
How do I write calculations in algebra?
- Writing mathematical ideas in letters is called using algebraic notation
- You can use + and – to mean add and subtract
- a + b
c + d – e
- a + b
- However no symbol is used for multiplication
- ab (means a × b)
3ab (means 3 × a × b)
- ab (means a × b)
- Fractions are used for division
- (means a ÷ b)
- You can combine the ideas above
- (means a×b + c÷3)
- The order of operations for numbers still works
- work out a×b and c÷d before adding them together
- Powers (indices) and roots are the same as with numbers
- a2 means a × a
4a2 means 4 × a2- With the order of operations, a2 happens before multiplying by 4
- means the square root of
- a2 means a × a
- Brackets work in the same way as they do with numbers
- means
- Add the a and b first, then multiply the result by 3
- means
Worked example
Raheem is playing a game and has q points.
He then earns a further 6 points.
Raheem has q + 6 points
At this point, the game doubles his number of points.
Raheem has 2(q + 6) points