Algebra Basics and Index Laws: Where to start

A dropped minus sign. A negative number with no brackets round it. Two unlike terms squashed into one. Each is small, and each can turn a method that was right into an answer that is wrong. Algebra Basics and Index Laws is how to write algebra, read it and simplify it without any of them.

These videos build in a line. Writing algebra comes first, then its words, then putting numbers in, then tidying up, then powers. If algebra is new to you, go in order, because each video uses the one before it.

What Algebraic Notation Means is where to begin. It covers what a letter stands for and the shorthand around it, like writing three c with no times sign. The common slip there is leaving the multiplication sign in. Algebra Vocabulary: Expressions, Equations, Formulae, Identities and Inequalities is the one for sorting statements into the right word. The common slip there is matching an identity to the word equation. Some courses do not set this one. Substituting Values into Expressions and Formulae is for putting numbers in, especially negative ones. The common slip there is putting a negative value in without brackets round it. Collecting Like Terms is the place to start if you can already write and substitute. The common slip there is combining an x term with a y term into one. Laws of Indices for Algebraic Terms is for simplifying products and quotients that carry powers. It keeps the number part and the power part as two separate jobs, which is the habit that stops the two rules blurring together. Index Notation: Negative, Zero and Fractional Powers is where a minus in a power, a power of zero and a fraction in a power get their meaning. Fractional powers are Higher content, and some courses do not set this video at all. Look at which of these your own course sets before you plan your time. You can search for any video by its name or its code, and the codes are right there on the list. The quickest way is the scholafly.com website, which indexes every video in every subject.

Next in the chapter is What Algebraic Notation Means. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly M A oh nine, oh one.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.