What is algebra and what it does?
Algebra is a branch of mathematics. Algebra deals with the variable activities in our daily lives. It comes after learning the arithmetic in math.
What are the variable activities?
Variable means something that keeps on changing. Variable activities are the activities which don't stay the same over time. They keep on changing, for example; some trends can go up or down, left or right and east or west etc.
For example; the weight of a person never remains the same, it keeps on changing by getting lower or higher every day. Sun doesn't stay at the same spot whole day; it looks changing its position all the day along (it is because of motion of Earth around the Sun though). Share markets keep getting higher and lower on every single moment. A worker's pay changers according to number of hours he/she worked.
Finally, it can be said that algebra is study of activities which keep on changing with time. As we have hundreds of changing activities around us, therefore, algebra is everywhere in our daily lives.
What are the basic concepts need to be learned before starting algebra?
There is some basic Pre-Algebra concepts need to learned before starting algebra. These topics are given below;
Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Times tables at least up to times by 10.
Know how to write all the factors of a number, finding greatest common factor (gcf) and least common multiple (LCM).
Fractions and operations on fractions.
Decimals
Integers
Order of operations
What are the main topics learned in algebra?
The main topics in algebra are;
Knowledge about the variables
Know the coefficients and constants
Writing algebraic expressions
Simple linear equations in one variable
Polynomials, degree and type
Operations with the polynomials, such as, adding polynomials, subtracting polynomials, multiplying and dividing polynomials
Rational expressions, Factorization
System of linear equations in two and three variables
Quadratic equations, absolute value equations and inequalities
Patterns in general like sequences and series.
Why is algebra hard?
Algebra is not that hard. One can take it as a challenging course. It looks hard as it is based on very very general terms.
Generic terms mean, for example; let's say you are looking for your younger brother, Vicky, in a crowd. You can call him by saying his name, Vicky aloud. Also your brother is a boy, and you can call him by saying, boy aloud. This time the problem is, there is too many boys in the crowd and may be, all of them start looking at you. So, boy is a general name and Vicky is a proper name.
Now if you recognize your brother from his clothes, height or other appearance you can even find him in the crowd by saying boy aloud. It looks hard, though but once your brother recognizes your voice, he will come to you. Same way you need to call algebra aloud (I mean learning it) and it will come to you like your brother.
Algebra has some rules to follow (as your brother has some unique appearance other than his name) and if you follow these rules, algebra is not hard at all.
So, that's all about basic algebra terminology, I could open in front of you according to my little knowledge of the topic.
