How do I look, I'm just about to head over to your mom's place 💪

5A The language of algebra CONSOLIDATING
Learning intentions
• To know the basic terminology of algebra
• To be able to identify coefficients, terms and constant terms within expressions, including in situations
where coefficients are zero or negative
• To be able to write expressions from word descriptions
A pronumeral is a letter that can represent one or more numbers. For instance, x could represent the number
of goals a particular soccer player scored last year. Or p could represent the price (in dollars) of a book.
The word variable is also used to describe a letter which represents an unknown value or quantity.
LESSON STARTER Algebra sort
Consider the four expressions x + 2, x × 2, x − 2 and x ÷ 2 .
• If you know that x is 10 , sort the four values from lowest to highest.
• Give an example of a value of x that would make x × 2 less than x + 2 .
• Try different values of x to see if you can:
– make x ÷ 2 less than x − 2
– make x + 2 less than x − 2
– make x × 2 less than x ÷ 2
KEY IDEAS
 In algebra, letters can be used to represent one or more numbers. These letters are called
pronumerals or variables .
 a × b is written a b and a ÷ b is written
a
b
.
 a × a is written a 2 .
 An expression is a combination of numbers and pronumerals combined with mathematical
operations, for example, 3x + 2yz and 8 ÷ (3a − 2b) + 41 are expressions.
 A term is a part of an expression with only pronumerals, numbers, multiplication and division,
for example, 9a , 10cd and
3x
5
are all terms.
Aerospace engineers calculate
the orbital speed of satellites,
such as the International
Space Station’s speed of
7.7km/s. The algebraic
formulas used include the
pronumerals: v for velocity,
gfor gravity’s acceleration and
r for the distance to Earth’s
centre.