CHAPTER10 Solving Equations and Inequalities .......................................
In This Chapter
- Solving one- and two-step
equations. - Simplifying equations to
make solving possible. - Using a number line to
solve inequalities.
The moment you begin to use a variable to represent an
unknown number, a question arises: what is the unknown
number? It’s natural to want to know what number the
variable represents, and in many cases, you can find out.
You need to have a full mathematical sentence, called an
equation or an inequality, using one variable. If you do,
you can determine the value of the variable that makes the
sentence true. This process is called solving the equation
(or inequal it y).
In this chapter, you’ll look at the essential steps in working
back to what a variable must equal. You’ll focus on how to
clean up the problem before you start so you can use those
fundamental techniques. Of course, there are special cases
that need to be handled differently, and you’ll learn how to
handle those. Finally, you’ll investigate what’s the same and
what’s different if the mathematical sentence has a verb that
talks about larger or smaller instead of just equal.