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| 9 Theory slides |
| 10 Exercises - Grade E - A |
| Each lesson is meant to take 1-2 classroom sessions |
Here are a few recommended readings before getting started with this lesson.
Dominika really enjoys longboard dancing. She is excited to participate in a competition soon. However, she needs some equipment, so she decided to go to the local skate shop to buy some stuff.
Dominika used her receipt to write out what she spent as an algebraic expression. Maybe her math teacher would give her extra credit when she showed it to him!
While preparing her board for practice, Dominika noticed that she forgot to buy a couple of things, so she had to go back to the store. She wrote another expression for her new purchase.
Now she is ready to practice. On her way to the park to practice, Dominika wondered how to combine the expressions to represent the total she spent at the store. Write an expression for her total expenses.
A linear term is an algebraic expression that includes a coefficient multiplied by a variable with an exponent of one. A linear expression is an expression that includes at least one linear term and any constant terms. No other type of terms may be included. The most common form of a linear expression is given below.
In this expression, a and b are real numbers, with a=0. To completely understand the definition of a linear expression, some important concepts will be be broken down. Consider the example linear expression x−5y+2.
x−5y+2 | ||
---|---|---|
Concept | Explanation | Example |
Term | Parts of an expression separated by a +or −sign. |
x, -5y, 2 |
Coefficient | A constant that multiplies a variable. If a coefficient is 1, it does not need to be written due to the Identity Property of Multiplication. | 1, -5 |
Linear Term | A term that contains exactly one variable whose exponent is 1. | x, -5y |
Constant Term | A term that contains no variables. It consists only of a number with its corresponding sign. | 2 |
The following table shows some examples of linear and non-linear expressions.
Linear Expressions | Non-linear Expressions |
---|---|
3x | 5 |
-5y+1 | 2xy−3 |
3x−21y+2 | x1−2 |
πx+6y | 5x2+x−1 |
Determine whether the given expression is a linear expression.
Commutative Property of Addition
Add terms
Subtract terms
Commutative Property of Addition
Subtract terms
Add terms
Dominika met up with her friends over the weekend to practice for the competition.
She documented her practice times using linear expressions.
Day | Practice Time (minutes) |
---|---|
Friday | 4t+32 |
Saturday | 7t+26 |
Sunday | 3t−15 |
Day | Practice Time (Minutes) |
---|---|
Friday | 4t+32 |
Saturday | 7t+26 |
Sunday | 3t−15 |
Substitute expressions
Commutative Property of Addition
Add terms
Day | Practice Time (Minutes) |
---|---|
Friday | 4t+32 |
Saturday | 7t+26 |
Sunday | 3t−15 |
Substitute expressions
Distribute -1
Commutative Property of Addition
Subtract terms
Add terms
Finally, it is time for the longboard competition!
Each participant's score is given by adding the two best scores from three rounds. After receiving her scores, Dominika wrote her final score as an expression.Magdalena's Two Best Scores | |
---|---|
2x+y+7 | x+y+6 |
In the end, Dominika and Magdalena placed in the top two positions of the competition.
Commutative Property of Addition
Add terms
Distribute -1
Commutative Property of Addition
Subtract terms
Add or subtract the given linear expressions.
Earlier in this lesson, Dominika wrote a couple of expressions to show how much she spent on two different days buying equipment for the competition.
We can write a new expression by adding the two given linear expressions. (m+11)+(m-7) ⇓ m+11+m-7 Now we need to simplify this expression. The first step in simplifying this expression is to identify which, if any, terms can be combined. Remember, only like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable — can be combined. m + 11 + m - 7 In this case, we can see two m-terms and two constants. Both of these pairs can be combined. We will apply the Commutative Property of Addition to group the like terms together and then combine them by adding or subtracting.
The expression is now simplified. Good job!
We can write a new expression by subtracting the two given linear expressions. Remember that we need to distribute the negative sign to replace every term of the subtrahend expression by its corresponding additive inverse. (6-7n)-(-16n+3) ⇓ 6-7n + 16n - 3 Now we need to simplify this expression. The first step in simplifying this expression is to identify which, if any, terms can be combined. Remember, only like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable — can be combined. 6 - 7n + 16n - 3 In this case, we can see two n-terms and two constants. Both of these pairs can be combined. We will apply the Commutative Property of Addition to group the like terms together and then combine them by adding or subtracting.
Now the expression is simplified. Good job! Remember that we can apply the Commutative Property of Addition again to rewrite this expression if we want. 3+9n ⇓ 9n+3
Ignacio is almost out of clean clothes. Because of this, he decided to do the laundry during the weekend.
We want to find how many pounds of laundry Ignacio washed over the weekend. We can find this by adding the pounds washed from Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's Laundry + Sunday's Laundry We are given these quantities as linear expressions. Saturday's Laundry + Sunday's Laundry ⇓ 3c+1 + 5c-2 If we add them together, we have an expression for the total laundry. However, we can simplify it to write it more compactly. First, let's identify the like terms. 3c + 1 + 5c - 2 We can see that there are two c-terms and two constants. Both of these pairs of like terms can be combined. Let's apply the Commutative Property of Addition to group the terms, then combine them by adding or subtracting.
This means that Ignacio did 8c-1 pounds of laundry during the weekend. We did it!
We want to find the difference between the distances Izabella ran on Friday and Saturday. This difference is found by subtracting the miles run from each day. Friday Miles- Saturday Miles We are given these miles as linear expressions. Let's substitute them to write the expression for the difference. Friday Miles- Saturday Miles ⇓ 3m+1 - ( 2m+5 ) Now we have an expression for the difference. This is great progress! Let's simplify it. To start, we will distribute the negative sign and identify the like terms — terms with the same variables raised to the same power. 3m+1 - (2m+5 ) ⇓ 3m + 1 - 2m - 5 We can see that there are two m-terms and two constants. These terms can be grouped using the Commutative Property of Addition and combined by adding or subtracting.
The difference between the distances Izabella ran on Friday and Saturday was m-4 miles.
Tiffaniqua followed these three steps to subtract two linear expressions.
Let's subtract the linear expressions ourselves to identify whether Tiffaniqua made a mistake. We can begin by distributing the negative sign to replace every term in the expression being subtracted with its additive inverse. (x+1)-(x+3) = x+1 -x - 3 After distributing the negative sign, we can see that the 3 is being subtracted. When Tiffaniqua did the subtraction, she added the 3. This means that Tiffaniqua made a mistake in Step 1. Let's continue solving to see the real result.
The correct result of the subtraction is -2.