Algebra II

Algebra II

Early forms of algebra were developed by the Babylonians and the Greeks. However the word "algebra" is a Latin form of the Arabic word Al-Jabr ("casting") and comes from a mathematics book Al-Maqala fi Hisab-al Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, ("Essay on the Computation of Casting and Equation") written in the 9th century by a famous Persianmathematician, Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, who was a Muslim born in Khwarizm in Uzbekistan. He flourished under Al-Ma'moun in Baghdad, Iraq through 813-833 AD, and died around 840 AD. The book was brought into Europe and translated into Latin in the 12th century. The book was then given the name 'Algebra'. (The ending of the mathematician's name, al-Khwarizmi, was changed into a word easier to say in Latin, and became the English word algorithm.)^[3]

Examples

Here is a simple example of an algebra problem:

Sue has 12 jellybeans, Ann has 24 jellybeans. They decide to share so that they have the same number of jellybeans.

These are the steps you can use to solve the problem:

1. To have the same number of jellybeans, Ann has to give some to Sue. Let x represent the number of jellybeans Ann gives to Sue.
2. Sue's jellybeans, plus x, must be the same as Ann's jellybeans minus x. This is written as: 12 + x = 24 - x
3. Subtract 12 from both sides of the equation. This gives: x = 12 - x. (What happens on one side of the equals sign must happen on the other side too, for the equation to still be true. So in this case when 12 was subtracted from both sides, there was a middle step of 12 + x - 12 = 24 - x - 12. After a person is comfortable with this, the middle step is not written down.)
4. Add x to both sides of the equation. This gives: 2x = 12
5. Divide both sides of the equation by 2. This gives x = 6. The answer is six. If Ann gives Sue 6 jellybeans, they will have the same number of jellybeans.
6. To check this, put 6 back into the original equation wherever x was: 12 + 6 = 24 - 6
7. This gives 18=18, which is true. They both now have 18 jellybeans.

With practice, algebra can be used when faced with a problem that is too hard to solve any other way. Problems such as building a freeway, designing a cell phone, or finding the cure for a disease all require algebra.