Why You Need Algebra
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The word “algebra” comes from the Arabic word “al-jabr”, which means “reunion” or “restoration”. Calculations in algebra encompass addition, subtraction, multiplication, Division and roots of variables and numbers. Because of this, algebra is a continuation of arithmetic, which is addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with only numbers.
You’re about to begin your journey in the world of algebra. That’s really exciting! When you learn to do calculations with variables as well as numbers, a completely new world of possibilities will open for you.
Algebra is one of the most exciting things out there. Nothing beats cleaning up an expression of variables and seeing how beautiful and neat it can turn out. It’s fascinating how a small set of rules can be so powerful when combined.
Understanding algebra, and the way of thinking behind it, makes it way easier for you to solve problems. You can think of it as brain teasers and logical thinking—things that will be useful your entire life.
Think About This
Imagine that you’re cleaning your room because your clean clothes are all over the floor. On the floor you find these pieces of clothing:
sweater pants sweater T-shirt pants pants T-shirt
You pick up and fold two sweaters, three pants and two t-shirts and put them back in your closet. When you put the pieces of clothing on the shelves they belong to and count how many you have of each kind of clothes, you’re doing algebra.
You can think about how algebra works in the same way as cleaning your room. Algebra counts and distributes different variables and numbers into different groups. It helps you organize!
Algebra is much more than just counting variables. It’s a collection of the most fundamental methods you need to solve other kinds of mathematics. You often put variables into other mathematical methods, like formulas, equations and functions.
The fun part about math is that if you do your homework, new theory you learn will seem much easier. It’s important to do the homework with the intention to understand it, and not just to finish it. Unfortunately, holes in your knowledge make new topics much harder to understand most of the time.
