Algebra Basics in Mathematics

My 12 year old daughter came home from school one day and announced that she'd just spent hours with a teacher who was teaching them Algebra and she hadn't understood one word or concept that the teacher was saying.

There are two options at this point in my mind, either my daughter just doesn't get Algebra or her teacher isn't very good. I know that sounds harsh and I apologise to all you teachers out there that are good at your jobs BUT there are a few out there who really shouldn't be teaching and I've encountered a few myself. So I decided to take things into my own hands and teach her some Algebra to see if it's just something she's not going to understand.

At the end of a couple of hours (that she enjoyed) my daughter was pronounced the 'Algebra Queen' and was completing GCSE level Algebra. A friend of mine pointed out that she was very lucky to have someone at home to help her with her maths and so I decided that for all of those anti-Algebra people out there who have kids I would post some easy to understand examples of mathematics in the hope that I might be of some help.

Simplify: 2x + 3 + 2 + 5x

Okay don't panic there are a couple of steps you need to know and take so that you can find the answer to this question.

Basically the word simplify means that you need to take the expression and make it as simple as you can.

Explanation:

Algebra is common sense, If someone asked to add 4 apples and 3 bottles you would know instantly that you couldn't do it, it's the same with algebra in the question above it is impossible to add the 2x and the 3 together.

Your first step is break the expression into sections that can be performed, so:

2x + 5x

and

3 + 2

Now you have two expressions that can be easily solved:

2x + 5x = 7x

and

3+2 = 5

The final step is to put the complete expression back together to show it's simplified form:

7x + 5

This is as simple as you can make the initial expression and it is the answer that you are looking for.

I hope I've made this easy enough to understand but I would appreciate your comments and suggestions. If you understand what I've posted please send me a message.