2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Chapter 7: ALGEBRA
7.1 Expressions and substitution
In mathematics, we can use a letter to stand for an unknown number or value.
For example,
This plate holds some doughnuts but you do not know exactly how many.
You can use the letter 𝒏 to stand for the number of doughnuts in the plate.
Now you can use the number of doughnuts 𝒏 in calculations.
If you added 3 doughnuts If you had 2 plates of
to the plate, you would doughnuts, you would have
have 𝒏 + 𝟑 doughnuts. 𝟐×𝒏 𝑜𝑟 𝟐𝒏 doughnuts.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example:
There are 𝒑 peas in a pod. How many peas are there in
a. 4 pods b. 2 pods and 5 peas c. Half a pod?
Example:
Inside the Jellybeans jar there are 𝒙 sweets. Use the symbol 𝑥 to represent the number of sweets in
each question below.
a. Hugo buys 9 sweets. How many sweets are left in the jar?
b. Tina buys 11 sweets. How many sweets are left?
c. Jason buys half of the sweets. How many sweets will be left?
d. When Marie has bought her sweets, there are 𝑥 − 25 sweets left.
How many sweets did Marie buy?
Example:
Alice is 𝑥 years old.
Bella is seven years younger than Alice.
Cheryl is four times as old as Bella.
Write an expression for:
a. Bella’s age b. Cheryl’s age.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example:
Inside this box there are 𝑛 biscuits. There are 13 more biscuits outside the box. What is the total
number of biscuits?
Example:
Work out the value of each expression, if 𝑝 = 4 and 𝑞 = 7.
a. 4 𝑝 − 1 = c. 𝑝! = e. 10𝑞 − 𝑝 =
!
b. 3𝑞 + 8 = d. 2𝑝 + 5𝑞 = f. =
!"
HOMEWORK: page 142, Exercise 7A: 1, 3(𝑎, 𝑐, 𝑑), 6, 8(𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑), 9, 10 and 12(𝑎, 𝑏).
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
7.2 Simplifying expressions
a a a a a a
The total length of the train is: 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 = 6𝑎
a a a a a a
If you take one coach away the length is: 6𝑎 − 𝑎 = 5𝑎
• An expression is made from numbers, letters and operations.
6𝑥 + 4𝑥 − 3𝑥 is an expression.
• Each part of the expression is called a term.
Terms: 6𝑥, 4𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 − 3𝑥.
• You can simplify an expression by collecting all of the like terms.
• Like terms are made from the same letters.
6𝑥, 4𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 − 3𝑥 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠.
• Like terms can be added together.
6𝑥 + 4𝑥 − 3𝑥 = 7𝑥
• In this expression 7 is the coefficient of 𝑥.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
This stick is made from two sizes of sticks: a and b.
a a b b a b b
To work out the total length of the stick, collect the terms.
a a a b b b b
3a 4b
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 3𝑎 + 4𝑏
• Unlike terms cannot be added together.
3𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 4𝑏 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example: Simplify each expression below.
1) 5𝑥 + 2𝑥 = 10) 7𝑥 + 3𝑥 − 4𝑥 =
2) 𝑥 + 7𝑥 = 11) 15𝑥 − 𝑥 − 4𝑥 =
3) 9𝑥 − 3𝑥 = 12) 𝑥 + 𝑥 + 9𝑥 =
4) 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 6𝑎 = 13) 2𝑎 + 3𝑎 =
5) 9𝑥 + 𝑥 − 10𝑥 = 14) 19𝑐 − 7𝑐 =
6) 3𝑎 − 𝑎 = 15) 3𝑥 + 6𝑥 + 4𝑥 + 2𝑥 =
7) −8𝑥 + 5𝑥 = 16) 8𝑝 + 4𝑝 + 𝑝 − 2𝑝 =
8) −11𝑥 − 2𝑥 = 17) 20𝑎 − 9𝑎 + 5𝑎 =
9) 2𝑥 − 5𝑥 = 18) 15𝑥 − 5𝑥 + 12𝑥 − 7𝑥 =
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example: Simplify each expression.
1) 3𝑥 + 2𝑥 + 4 = 8) 15 − 4𝑥 − 5 + 4𝑥 =
2) 7𝑥 + 2 − 𝑥 = 9) 2𝑎 + 5𝑎 + 18𝑏 − 8𝑏 + 2𝑎 =
3) 4𝑥 − 2𝑥 + 6 + 3 = 10) 5𝑚 + 4𝑛 − 5𝑚 − 4𝑛 + 1 =
4) 7 + 𝑥 + 2𝑥 − 5 = 11) 5𝑥 − 3𝑦 − 2𝑥 + 𝑦 − 𝑥 =
5) 8𝑥 + 10 − 2𝑥 − 5 = 12) 2𝑎 + 4𝑏 − 𝑎 − 3𝑏 =
6) 9𝑎 + 4𝑏 − 2𝑎 + 5𝑏 = 13) 9𝑚 + 5𝑛 − 12𝑚 + 𝑛 + 4 =
7) 𝑎 + 5𝑎 + 6𝑏 − 3 = 14) 4𝑑 − 5 − 3𝑑 =
Example: Work out the perimeter of the following shapes.
a. b. c.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example: Work out the followings.
a. 𝑥. 𝑥 = c. 2𝑥. 𝑥 = e. 7𝑥. (7) =
b. 𝑎. 𝑎 = d. (3𝑥). (5𝑥) = f. (– 𝑥). (8𝑥) =
Example: Find an expression for the area of each shape.
a.
b.
c.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example: Work out an expression for the area of the shaded region.
𝑥 𝑐𝑚
𝑎 𝑐𝑚
8 𝑐𝑚 5 𝑐𝑚
HOMEWORK: page 146, Exercise 7B: 1, 2, 3(𝑎, 𝑐, 𝑒), 4a, 6(𝑎, 𝑐), 7 and 9(𝑎, 𝑐).
7.3 Using formulae
Example:
The teddy bear’s body is 3 times longer than its head. Body’s length is given by
the formula
𝑏 = 3ℎ
where 𝑏 is the length of bear’s body and ℎ is the length of bear’s head.
Use the formula to work out the total length of a teddy bear with each head measurement.
a. 10 cm b. 7 cm c. 32 cm d. 45 cm
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example:
The monthly cost, £𝑐, of a phone contract is given by the formula 𝑐 = 15 + 0.05𝑛, where 𝑛 is the
number of calls. Work out the monthly cost, if 83 calls are made.
Example:
The braking distance, 𝑑 metres, for a car travelling at 𝑣 mph is given by the formula
𝑣!
𝑑=
50
Work out the braking distance for a car travelling at 30 mph.
HOMEWORK: page 150, Exercise 7C: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
7.4 Writing formulae
Sometimes you will need to create your own formula to solve a problem.
Example:
The monthly cost of a phone contract is £8.5 plus 5p per text.
Work out a formula for the cost, £c, if 𝑛 texts are sent in a month.
Example:
The length of a rectangle is 𝑚 cm. The width is 15 cm less than the length. Find a formula for:
a. the area, 𝑎 𝑐𝑚! b. the perimeter, 𝑝 𝑐𝑚.
Example:
Angie thinks of a number. She doubles it. She takes the answer away from 100. Then she divides by 4. If
the initial number is 𝑛, write a formula for the final answer, 𝑓.
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example:
Jessica works at a restaurant on Sundays. She is paid a basic wage £20 and a bonus £2 for every hour
she worked. Write a formula to show Jessica’s total wage.
Example:
Hillary picks avocados. She is paid £6 for every basket that she picks.
a. Write a formula to find Hillary’s salary.
b. Use your formula to show that when she picks 5 baskets she will be paid £30.
c. Use your formula to work out Hillary’s salary for
I. 10 baskets II. 22 baskets III. 50 baskets
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2021-2022 Chapter 7 Year 6 Maths
Example:
There are 𝑥 chocolates in each bag and some loose chocolates.
a. Write a formula for the total number of chocolates, T.
b. Use your formula for T to find the number of chocolates there are when 𝑥 = 15.
HOMEWORK: page 153, Exercise 7D: 1, 2, 3a, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10.
HOMEWORK: page 156, Review questions: 1, 3(𝑐, 𝑑), 4, 6 and 7.
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