Lynette Long - Painless Algebra

Copyright 2020, 2016, 2011, 2006, 1998 by Kaplan, Inc., d/b/a Barrons Educational Series All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. Published by Kaplan, Inc., d/b/a Barrons Educational Series 750 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 www.barronseduc.com ISBN: 978-1-5062-6807-1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Painless algebra? Impossible, you think. Not really. I have been teaching math or teaching teachers how to teach math for more than twenty years.

Math is easy or at least it can be with the help of this book! Whether you are learning algebra for the first time, or you are trying to remember what youve learned but have forgotten, this book is for you. It provides a clear introduction to algebra that is both fun and instructive. Dont be afraid. Dive inits painless! Painless Icons and Features This book is designed with several unique features to help make learning algebra easy. PAINLESS TIP You will see Painless Tips throughout the book. CAUTIONMajor Mistake Territory! Caution boxes will help you avoid common pitfalls or mistakes. CAUTIONMajor Mistake Territory! Caution boxes will help you avoid common pitfalls or mistakes.

Be sure to read them carefully. MATH TALK! These boxes translate "math talk" into plain English to make it even easier to understand math. REMINDER Reminders will call out information that is important to remember. Each reminder will relate to the current chapter or will reference key information you learned in a previous chapter. BRAIN TICKLERS There are brain ticklers throughout each chapter in the book. These quizzes are designed to make sure you understand what youve just learned and to test your progress as you move forward in the chapter.

Complete all the Brain Ticklers and check your answers. If you get any wrong, make sure to go back and review the topics associated with the questions you missed. PAINLESS STEPS Complex procedures are divided into a series of painless steps. These steps help you solve problems in a systematic way. Follow the steps carefully, and youll be able to solve most algebra problems. EXAMPLES Most topics include examples with solutions.

If you are having trouble, research shows that writing or copying the problem may help you understand it. ILLUSTRATIONS Painless Algebra is full of illustrations to help you better understand algebra topics. Youll find graphs, charts, and more instructive illustrations to help you along the way. SIDEBARS These shaded boxes contain extra information that relates to the surrounding topics. Sidebars can include detailed examples or practice tips to help keep algebra interesting and painless. Chapter Breakdown is titled A Painless Beginning, and it really is.

It is an introduction to numbers and number systems. It will teach you how to perform simple operations on both numbers and variables painlessly, and by the end of the chapter you will know what Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally means. shows you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide both positive and negative numbers. The only trick is remembering which sign the answer has, and with a little practice youll be a whiz. teaches you how to solve equations. Think of an equation as a number sentence that contains a mystery number.

All you have to do is figure out the value of the mystery number. Just follow a few simple, painless steps to success. shows you how to solve inequalities. What happens when the mystery number is not part of an equation but instead is part of a number sentence in which one part of the sentence is greater than the other part? Now what could the mystery number be? Does the solution sound complicated? Trust me. Its painless. is all about graphing.

You will learn what coordinate axes are, and learn how to graph horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines. Youll even learn how to graph inequalities, so get out a pencil and a ruler and get started. shows you how to solve systems of equations and inequalities. Systems of equations are two or more equations taken together. You try to find a single answer that will make them all true. Youll learn to solve systems in many different ways.

Its fun, because no matter how you solve them you always get the same answer. Thats one of the magical things about mathematics! deals with exponents. What happens when you multiply a number by itself seven times? You can write 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2, or you can use an exponent and write 27, which is two to the seventh power. This chapter will introduce you to exponents, which are amazing shortcuts, and teach you how to work with them. to find out. shows you how to solve quadratic equations. Quadratic is a big word, but dont get nervous.

Its just a fancy name mathematicians give to an equation with an x-squared term in it. discusses advanced topics in algebra. If youre interested in what number comes next in a series of numbers, a magic triangle discovered by Pascal, or how to solve a matrix or a function, check out this chapter. Algebra is a language. In many ways, mastering algebra is just like learning French, Italian, or German, or maybe even Japanese. To understand algebra, you need to learn how to read it and how to change Plain English into Math Talk and Math Talk back into Plain English.

In algebra, a letter is often used to stand for a number. The letter used to stand for a number is called a variable. You can use any letter, but a, b, c, n, x, y, and z are the most commonly used letters. In the following sentences, different letters are used to stand for numbers.

x + 3 = 5	x is a variable.
a 2 = 6	a is a variable.
y 3 = 4	y is a variable.
x + y = 7	Both x and y are variables.

When you use a letter to stand for a number, you dont know what number the letter represents. Think of the letters