Chapter 2 Algebraic Expressions
The basic object in the study of algebra is what is known as an algebraic expression. These are just mathematical expressions that contain variables. Think of a variable as a generic number (as one goes further in mathematics one deals with variables that are no longer just numbers). In the last chapter we used variables to describe general arithmetic operations. Variables and algebraic expressions are essential to applying mathematics in science and engineering. In these fields, one needs to know how one numerical quantity will affect another. These relationships between two quantities are known as functions, which are often written using an algebraic expression.
Our goals in this chapter are to gain literacy in reading algebraic expressions and understand their manipulation. Specifically, we will
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