Writing Algebraic Expressions from Word Problems

Algebraic expressions are a series of arithmetic operations consisting of the four operations, numbers, variables, parentheses and other mathematical symbols (square roots, powers, factors...).

These algebraic expressions are abstracted from physical concepts so that we can see their applications in all fields.

As we said earlier, algebraic expressions mainly consist of the four operations, numbers, variables, parentheses and various mathematical symbols that we will discuss as follows:

  • Numbers: They are fixed values such as
  • Operations Symbols: These are addition(+), subtraction(-), multiplication() and division()
  • Variables: These are the unknowns that we usually express with letters such as
  • Grouping Symbols: It contains other expressions such as
  • Other Mathematical Symbols: such as square roots, exponents,

Convert texts to algebraic expressions

Let's take some exemples:

Example1:

Sum of two unknown numbers.

Solution:

Let the first number be and the second number be .

So their sum is

Example2:

The sum of twice and

Solution:

Let the first number be , the twice of is .

So the sum is

Example3:

The difference of the number and the triple of the number .

Solution:

The variables are already defined and . the triple of is .

So the difference is

Example4:

The difference of the product of and , and the quotient of and

Solution:

The product of and is

The quotient of and is

So the difference is

Example5:

The product of two consecutive numbers.

Solution:

Let be the first number. then the second number is .

So, the product of this two numbers is

Example6:

The product of the sum of the numbers and and the sum of the numbers and twice of .

Solution:

The sum of and is

The sum of and the twice of is

The product is

Example7:

The sum of the square root of a number and the number next of it

Solution:

Let the unknown number. then the square root of is . The number next of is . The sum is