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# 1.1: Variable Expressions

Difficulty Level: At Grade Created by: CK-12
Estimated8 minsto complete
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Practice Variable Expressions
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Estimated8 minsto complete
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What if you were at the supermarket and saw the price of a loaf of bread, but you weren't sure how many loaves you wanted to buy? How could you represent the total amount of money spent on bread? After completing this Concept, you'll be able to write an expression that is equal to this amount, regardless of the number of loaves you buy.

### Operations

When someone is having trouble with algebra, they may say, “I don’t speak math!” While this may seem weird to you, it is a true statement. Math, like English, French, Spanish, or Arabic, is a second language that you must learn in order to be successful. There are verbs and nouns in math, just like in any other language. In order to understand math, you must practice the language.

A verb is a “doing” word, such as running, jumping, or driving. In mathematics, verbs are also “doing” words. A math verb is called an operation. Operations can be something you have used before, such as addition, multiplication, subtraction, or division. They can also be much more complex like an exponent or square root.

### Review

In 1–5, choose an appropriate variable to describe each situation.

1. The number of hours you work in a week
2. The distance you travel
3. The height of an object over time
4. The area of a square
5. The number of steps you take in a minute

In 6–10, write an expression to describe each situation.

1. You have a job earning $2000 a month 2. Avocados are sold for$1.50 each
3. A car travels 50 miles per hour for a certain number of hours
4. Your vacation costs you $500 for the airplane ticket plus$100 per day
5. Your cell phone costs $50 a month plus$0.25 for each text message

In 11–15, underline the math verb(s) in the sentence.

1. Six times \begin{align*}v\end{align*}
2. Four plus \begin{align*}y\end{align*} minus six
3. Sixteen squared
4. \begin{align*}U\end{align*} divided by three minus eight
5. 225 raised to the \begin{align*}\frac{1}{2}\end{align*} power

To see the Review answers, open this PDF file and look for section 1.1.

### Notes/Highlights Having trouble? Report an issue.

Color Highlighted Text Notes

### Vocabulary Language: English Spanish

operation

Operations are actions performed on variables, constants, or expressions. Common operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Variable

A variable is a symbol used to represent an unknown or changing quantity. The most common variables are a, b, x, y, m, and n.

Exponent

Exponents are used to describe the number of times that a term is multiplied by itself.

Operations

Operations are actions performed on variables, constants, or expressions. Common operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Square Root

The square root of a term is a value that must be multiplied by itself to equal the specified term. The square root of 9 is 3, since 3 * 3 = 9.

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