INTRO :: Examples of algebraic expressions

Suppose represented your current age.

What would these expressions represent?

Your age in 4? years time.

?
Twice your age.

? age.
A third of your
A few variable naming
conventions:
We tend to use a single lower-case
letter, either using the English
alphabet (a to z) or using the greek
alphabet ()
Formulae
A formula (plural: formulae) is a rule to generate one value of
interest from others.
For example, the following formula allows you to find the
temperature in Fahrenheit given the temperature in Celsius:

The variable of interest goes on the LHS of the equals.

What is when:

?
?
?
Forming Expressions
Worded problem
[JMC 2008 Q18] Granny swears that she is getting younger. She has
calculated that she is four times as old as I am now, but remember that 5
years ago she was five times as old as I was at that time. What is the sum of
our ages now?

Stage 1: Represent Stage 2: ‘Solve’ equation(s)

problem algebraically to find value of variables.
Let be my age and be
Granny’s age.

We’ll be looking how we can turn worded information into

algebraic expressions.
Forming Expressions
Suppose represents your age. How would you represent:

Your age in 5 years time?

?
Twice what your age was 5 years ago? ?
5 years younger than twice your age? ?
Half what your age was 3 years ago? ?
Anyone called Bob is four times your age.
Anyone called Charles is two years younger than you.
What is (in terms of ):

The age of one person called Bob:

The total age of a Bob and a Charles:
?
The total age of you, a Bob and two Charles: ?
?
Example
1. The sum of 5 consecutive whole numbers is 285. What is the smallest of
these numbers?

Supposed we used one variable . What unknown thing could it represent?

Option 1 Option 2
?
Let be the smallest number. ?
Let be the middle number.
Then the five numbers would be: Then the five numbers would be:

? ?
Then the sum of these numbers would be: Then the sum of these numbers would be:
? ?

?
n = 55
Example

2. I think of a number, double it and 3. My mother was 26 years old when I

add 8. The result is 50. What number was born. She is presently three times
did I think of? as old as I am. What are our present
ages?

Solution Solution
Let be the number. Let my present age be .
Then, it would be:
Then, my mother’s present age is 3x.
The difference in ages is 26 years.
?

?
My present age is 13. My mother’s present
age is 39.
Example
4. A bag contains white, blue and red 5. A parallelogram has its longest
counters. There are 14 more blue sides five times longer than its
counters than white and 6 fewer red shorter sides. If it has a perimeter of
counters than white. There are 44 9.6 m, what are the lengths of the
counters altogether. How many white long and short sides?
counters are there?

Solution
Let represent the number of white
counters. Option
Let the shorter side be metres.
There are w + 14 blue counters.
There are w - 6 red counters. The longest side is 5x.
The total number of counters is 44.
?
?
There are 12 white counters. The shorter side is 0.8m and the longer
side is .
Check Your Understanding
A cat costs £ and a dog £2 less.
A What is the cost (in £) of:
a) 4 cats? ?
b) 3 dogs? ?
There is a queue of people. If there are people in front of me, how many
B people are behind me?
?
The average mark of people in a class was 60.
C
c) Let be the number of people in the class. What is the total mark of
everyone in the class?
?
d) If a new person joins the class, and gets a mark of 80, what is the total
mark now?
?
e) If this person’s mark made the average mark rises to 62, give another
expression for the total mark of all the people.
?
A 3 x 3 grid contains nine numbers, one in each cell. Each number is doubled
D
to obtain the number on its immediate right and trebled to obtain the number
immediately below it. Use suitable expressions to represent the nine ?
numbers. What expression gives the sum of your numbers? ?
N If the sum of the numbers is 13, what is the middle number?
?
Exercise
A number is represented by . How would we After tennis training, Andy collects twice
1 4
represent: as many balls as Roger and five more than
a) 2 more than the number. ? Maria. If Roger collected balls, in terms
b) 5 times the number. ? of , how many balls did:
c) 3 less than twice the number. ? a) Andy collect? ?
d) Twice as much as 3 less than the number. b) Maria collect? ?
? c) The total number of balls collected?
e) A quarter of the number. or
? ?
I think of a number, multiply it by 5,
subtract 2, subtract the original number,
The cost of a badger is pence. A racoon is 5 pence 5 and then halve it. If the starting number
2 more expensive than a badger and a beaver three was , give an expression for the final
times as expensive as a badger. answer, as simply as possibly.
f) What is the cost of a racoon?
g) What is the cost of a beaver? ?
?
h) What is the total cost of a racoon and 8 ?
In a list of seven consecutive numbers a
beavers? quarter of the smallest number is five less
? 6 than a third of the largest number.
You have 7 consecutive numbers, with the smallest If is the smallest number, find expressions
3 number for:
i) What are the 7 numbers in terms of ? d) “a quarter of the smallest number”
e) “five less than a third of the largest
j) ?
Hence what is the sum of all the numbers? number”
?
?
?
Example
Show your solutions.

1. A rectangle of perimeter 74 cm is 7 cm longer than it is wide. What is

the length of each side?
2.Smitville is located between Jonesville and Cityville is five times as far
away from Cityville as it is from Jonesville. If the distance between
Jonesville and Cityville is 288 km, how far is it from Jonesville to
Smitville?
3.Amira is twice as old as her cousin Pam. Nine years ago, their
combined age was 18. What are their present ages?
4.Jabu left town A to travel to town B at 6:00 a.m. He drove at an
average speed of 80 km/h. At 8:30 a.m., Sipho left town A to travel to
town B. He drove at an average speed of 100 km/h. At what time will
Sipho catch up with Jabu?
5.Cecilia took 40 minutes to complete the journey. She travelled half the
distance at a speed of 100 km/h and the other half at 60 km/h/. How far
was her journey?