Chapter 2 :Algebraic Equation in One Variable
Algebraic expressions
5x, 2x – 3, 3x + y, 2xy + 5, xyz + x + y + z, x 2 + 1,
2
y+y
Algebraic Equations
Algebraic Expression with one variable
A . Solving Equations by Inspection
- Just think what number must be placed there to obtain a correct answer
Example: x+4=8
Think of a number that’s will make 8 with 4. Since 4 + 4 = 8 Then x = 4
Exerciser:
1. x – 9 = 10 2. 2x + 1 = 9 3. 5x – 2 = 28
B . Solving Equations by working backwards
- starting from the end of the problem and using that information to find your way
back to the beginning
Example : 1. Sarah had some apples. She gave 5 to her friend, bought 3 more, and ended
up with 10 apples. How many apples did she start with?
1
Work from the End:
To have 10 apples, Sarah bought 3 more. So before buying, she had 10 – 3 = 7
apples.
Before that, she gave away 5 apples. So before giving them away, she must
have had
7 + 5 = 12 apples.
Conclusion: Sarah started with 12 apples.
2. 2x + 7 = 23
we assume that x is a number that satisfies 2x+7=23 and work backward. We
subtract 7 from each side of the equation and then divide each side by 2 to get x=8. Each
of these steps can be reversed, so we have solved the problem.
Exercise:
1. Jack has $25 now. He spent $10 on lunch and received $5 as a gift. How much money
did Jack have before?
2. Maria has some candies. She gave 7 to her friend and had 15 left. How many candies
did she have at first?
3. Find a formula in terms of x for the shape below:
x+2
3x+1
2x+1
4x+3
The actual length of the side label (3x+1) is 16m, what is the area of the shape?
2
4. Anne has a certain amount of money in her bank account on Friday morning. During
the day she writes a check for $24.50, makes an ATM withdrawal of $80, and deposits a
check for $235. At the end of the day, she sees that her balance is $451.25. How much
money did she have in the bank at the beginning of the day?
C. Solving equation using the Balance Method
- The Balance method consist of only one rule: Do the same operation on both sides of
= , that you are left with the unknown variable on one side.
Example :
3. 2(x – 6)
= 5 – 3x
1. 8a + 4 = 5a + 16 2. 3w + 7 = 9w – 23
–7 –7 2x – 12= 5 – 3x
–4 –4 +12 +12
3w = 9w – 30
8a = 5a + 12 2x= 17 – 3x
–9w –9w
–5a –5a –6w = –30 +3x +3x
3a = 12 : –6 : –6 5x= 17
:3 :3 w=5 :5 :5
2
a =4 x=3
5
Exercise:
1 2
1. 2 (x – 2) = 3x – 5 2. 3x=5x+2x+5 3. 3x+2=2x+6
4. 2x + 7 = 21 5. 2(2x – 4) = x + 4 6. x/2 + 7 = x/6 – 1
7. 2(x/2 + 4) = 5x – 5 8. 5x + 3 = 2x + 12 9. x/3 = 5/6
10. 13+2(1-u) = 8u -5(u+7) 11. x/2 + 7 = x/6 – 1 12. 8-(4-12t)+2 =3t +2(7-3t)
3
Additional Exercise:
1) Desiree made 100 cookies this week. She baked 8 more than four times the total she
made last week. How many cookies did she bake last week.
4x + 8 = 100 x = _______________
2) Shakira went bowling with her friends. She paid $3 to rent shoes and then $4.75 for
each game of bowling. If she spent a total of $42, then how many games
did Shakira bowl?
3) This year, Cornell’s class took two more than three times as many field trips as last
year’s class. This year, Cornell’s class took a total of 8 trips. How many field trips did
his class take last year?
4) This week, Jamyra spent a total of 100 minutes studying. This total was 20 more than
four times the amount of minutes she studied last week. How many minutes
did Jamyra spend studying last week?
5) James earned a total of $900 last week. This total was $20 less than four times the
amount he earned last week. How much money did James earn last week?
6) Kaya rented a limousine for prom. There was a one-time charge of $100, plus an
hourly rate of $45. Her total cost for the night was $437.50. How many hours
did Kaya rent the limo for?