What is an algebraic equation?

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Answer 1 · 2018-07-18T09:18:47

An equation is a statement that two expressions are equal, so we have:

$expression = expression$ $"expression = expression"$

An expression is a maths sentence made up of terms which can have numbers and or variables as factors.

$3 x, 3 x + 5, 2 x^{2} - 5 x + 3$ $3x," "3x+5," "2x^2-5x+3$ are all examples of expressions.

An equation is a statement that two expressions are equal, so we have:

$expression = expression$ $"expression = expression"$

An equation is solved, which means to find the value(s) of the variable(s) which makes the equation true,

$3 x - 5 = 22 \to x = 9$ $3x-5 = 22" "rarr x = 9$

$x^{2} + 4 x - 45 = 0 x = - 9 or x = 5$ $x^2 +4x -45 =0" "x = -9 or x=5$

An equation which contains two or more variables does not have a unique solution, but rather many, many solutions,

$x + y = 10$ $x+y=10$ has infinitely many solutions.