Algebra uses letters – and letters can be fascinating!! If you write down every number as a word, and look at the letters you have used, do you notice anything missing? You could write down every single number, all the way to one billion before you have to use the letter b!! Also, if you don’t count the word “and”, you can get all the way to one thousand without using the letter a!!
Have you ever thought about letters words begin with. There are only four letters which are found doubled at the beginning of a word. These are A, E , O and L, for example in aardvark, eerily, oodles and llama! Of all the words starting with double letters, the letter O is the most common. When you come across words which have three letters in a row, you will find they have hyphens in them. They would look very strange without them! Imagine crosssection instead of cross-section, or beeeater instead of bee-eater.
If you struggle with algebra, check out the first part of our “How to” guides on Algebra. Part 1 explains the basics of algebra, what terms and expressions are, and will show you how to collect like terms, and multiply letters. It also includes some questions for you to try at the end so you can check your understanding.
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