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    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies
    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies
    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies
    Ebook210 pages2 hours

    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies

    By Mark Zegarelli

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    About this ebook

    Many students worry about starting algebra. Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies provides an overview of critical pre-algebra concepts to help new algebra students (and their parents) take the next step without fear. Free of ramp-up material, Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies contains content focused on key topics only. It provides discrete explanations of critical concepts taught in a typical pre-algebra course, from fractions, decimals, and percents to scientific notation and simple variable equations. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical pre-algebra concepts as they help students with homework assignments, as well as for adult learners headed back into the classroom who just need to a refresher of the core concepts.

    The Essentials For Dummies Series
    Dummies is proud to present our new series, The Essentials For Dummies. Now students who are prepping for exams, preparing to study new material, or who just need a refresher can have a concise, easy-to-understand review guide that covers an entire course by concentrating solely on the most important concepts. From algebra and chemistry to grammar and Spanish, our expert authors focus on the skills students most need to succeed in a subject.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateApr 22, 2010
    ISBN9780470640708
    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies

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      This book is amazing, all what seamed complicated before is now really simple and clear. Thank you so much for make stuff easy like this.

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    Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies - Mark Zegarelli

    Chapter 1

    Arming Yourself with Math Basics

    In This Chapter

    Identifying four important sets of numbers

    Reviewing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

    Examining commutative, associative, and distributive operations

    Knowing exponents, roots, and absolute values

    Understanding how factors and multiples are related

    You already know more about math than you think you know. In this chapter, you review and gain perspective on basic math ideas such as sets of numbers and concepts related to the Big Four operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing). I introduce you (or reintroduce you) to properties and operations that will assist with solving problems. Finally, I explain the relationship between factors and multiples, taking you from what you may have missed to what you need to succeed as you move onward and upward in math.

    Understanding Sets of Numbers

    You can use the number line to deal with four important sets (or groups) of numbers. Each set builds on the one before it:

    Counting numbers (also called natural numbers): The set of numbers beginning 1, 2, 3, 4, ... and going on infinitely

    Integers: The set of counting numbers, zero, and negative counting numbers

    Rational numbers: The set of integers and fractions

    Real numbers: The set of rational and irrational numbers

    Even if you filled in all the rational numbers, you’d still have points left unlabeled on the number line. These points are the irrational numbers.

    An irrational number is a number that’s neither a whole number nor a fraction. In fact, an irrational number can only be approximated as a non-repeating decimal. In other words, no matter how many decimal places you write down, you can always write down more; furthermore, the digits in this decimal never become repetitive or fall into any pattern. (For more on repeating decimals, see Chapter 5.)

    The most famous irrational number is π (you find out more about π when I discuss the geometry of circles in Chapter 11):

    π = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510...

    Together, the rational and irrational numbers make up the real numbers, which comprise every point on the number line.

    The Big Four Operations

    When most folks think of math, the first thing that comes to mind is four little (or not-so-little) words: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I call these operations the Big Four all through the book.

    Adding things up

    Addition is the first operation you find out about, and it’s almost everybody’s favorite. Addition is all about bringing things together, which is a positive thing. This operation uses only one sign — the plus sign (+).

    remember.eps When you add two numbers together, those two numbers are called addends, and the result is called the sum.

    Tip.eps Adding a negative number is the same as subtracting, so 7 + –3 is the same as 7 – 3.

    Take it away: Subtracting

    Subtraction is usually the second operation you discover, and it’s not much harder than addition. As with addition, subtraction has only one sign: the minus sign (–).

    remember.eps When you subtract one number from another, the result is called the difference. This term makes sense when you think about it: When you subtract, you find the difference between a higher number and a lower one.

    Tip.eps Subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive number, so 2 – (–3) is the same as 2 + 3. When you’re subtracting, you can think of the two minus signs canceling each other out to create a positive.

    Multiplying

    Multiplication is often described as a sort of shorthand for repeated addition. For example,

    4 × 3 means add 4 to itself 3 times: 4 + 4 + 4 = 12

    9 × 6 means add 9 to itself 6 times: 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 54

    remember.eps When you multiply two numbers, the two numbers that you’re multiplying are called factors, and the result is the product. In the preceding example, 4 and 3 are the factors and 12 is the product.

    When you’re first introduced to multiplication, you use the times sign (×). However, algebra uses the letter x a lot, which looks similar to the times sign, so people often choose to use other multiplication symbols for clarity.

    Arriving on the dot

    In math beyond arithmetic, the symbol · replaces ×. For example,

    6 · 7 = 42 means 6 × 7 = 42

    53 · 11 = 583 means 53 × 11 = 583

    That’s all there is to it: Just use the · symbol anywhere you would’ve used the standard times sign (×).

    Speaking parenthetically

    remember.eps In math beyond arithmetic, using parentheses without another operator stands for multiplication. The parentheses can enclose the first number, the second number, or both numbers. For example,

    3(5) = 15 means 3 × 5 = 15

    (8)7 = 56 means 8 × 7 = 56

    (9)(10) = 90 means 9 × 10 = 90

    However, notice that when you place another operator between a number and a parenthesis, that operator takes over. For example,

    3 + (5) = 8 means 3 + 5 = 8

    (8) – 7 = 1 means 8 – 7 = 1

    Doing division lickety-split

    The last of the Big Four operations is division. Division literally means splitting things up. For example, suppose you’re a parent on a picnic with your three children. You’ve brought along 12 pretzel sticks as snacks and want to split them fairly so that each child gets the same number (don’t want to cause a fight, right?).

    Each child gets four pretzel sticks. This problem tells you that

    12 ÷ 3 = 4

    As with multiplication, division also has more than one sign: the division sign (÷) and the fraction slash (/) or fraction bar (—). So some other ways to write the same information are

    12/3 = 4 and 618387-eq01001.eps = 4

    remember.eps When you divide one number by another, the first number is called the dividend, the second is called the divisor, and the result is the quotient. For example, in the division from the earlier example, the dividend is 12, the divisor is 3, and the quotient is 4.

    Fun and Useful Properties of the Big Four Operations

    When you know how to do the Big Four operations — add, subtract, multiply, and divide — you’re ready to grasp a few important properties of these important operations. Properties are features of the Big Four operations that always apply no matter which numbers you’re working with.

    Inverse operations

    Each of the Big Four operations has an inverse — an operation that undoes it. Addition and subtraction are inverse operations because addition undoes subtraction, and vice versa. In the same way, multiplication and division are inverse operations. Here are two inverse equation examples:

    In the example on the left, when you subtract a number and then add the same number, the addition undoes the subtraction and you end up back at 184.

    In the example on the right, you start with the number 4 and multiply it by 5 to get 20. And then you divide 20 by 5 to return to where you started at 4. So division is the inverse operation of multiplication.

    Commutative operations

    Addition and multiplication are both commutative operations. Commutative means that you can switch around the order of the numbers without changing the result. This property of addition and multiplication is called the commutative property. For example,

    3 + 5 = 8 is the same as 5 + 3 = 8

    2 · 7 = 14 is the same as 7 · 2 = 14

    Tip.eps In contrast, subtraction and division are noncommutative operations. When you switch around the order of the numbers, the result changes. For example,

    6 – 4 = 2, but 4 – 6 = –2

    618387-eq01002.eps

    Associative operations

    Addition and multiplication are both associative operations, which means that you can group them differently without changing the result. This property of addition and multiplication is also called the associative property. Here’s an example of how addition is associative. Suppose you want to add 3 + 6 + 2. You can solve this problem in two ways:

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