Question in Algebra

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Beginning2Fret
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:23 pm
Location: kent

Question in Algebra

Post by Beginning2Fret »

Good morning all,
Maths is not exactly my strong point after 20+ leaving school. So i`m trying my best to help my DS and although the maths test may contain very little algebra, I thought I would try to show him some to help him, as I think his school has just touched on the subject. I printed off this morning some free work sheets on algebra and have come across a * sign in some of the sums, I guess the / means division.
Sorry if this seems a stupid question, but have been up half the night and can`t seem to think straight to try to work this out.
mitasol
Posts: 2756
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Question in Algebra

Post by mitasol »

* is sometimes used for X (times) particularly on computers. :)
/ is division.
Last edited by mitasol on Fri Jul 02, 2010 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Beginning2Fret
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:23 pm
Location: kent

Re: Question in Algebra

Post by Beginning2Fret »

Thanks mitasol, I can now carry on.
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Re: Question in Algebra

Post by stevew61 »

Using * also helps avoid confusion with X the unknown and x to multiply.

DS1 really struggled with algebra, found some nice graphical balancing scales type examples to find the unknown on I think BBC bitesize.

DS2 just accepted it but got thrown when there are two unknowns x and y which is probably a step to far!

Another technique if it is multiple choice and you have the time is to test the answers, e.g if 3x+2=2x+5 and choices are 1,2,3,4,5 then trial and error to find the balance. :)
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Question in Algebra

Post by mystery »

Algebra is beautiful, and a love of it could lead to great success in maths at a much later stage. In the Kent test, I don't think answering the algebra questions (as there were so few in the past, and certainly last year there were none) would make any difference as to whether it was a pass or fail.

So are you sure you want to teach it to your child if you are feeling so rusty, or is it an area of maths that you love yourself? If not, I'd be tempted to help your child by concentrating on other more important areas of the 11+ syllabus including speed and accuracy, and keep the algebra for enjoyment at secondary school.
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