In mathematics, many problems begin with everyday stories. These stories may talk about ages, distances, prices, or quantities. To solve them, we first need to translate the real-world situation into algebraic expressions. This process helps us turn words into symbols so that we can think clearly, calculate accurately, and solve problems step by step. In this lesson, let’s look at how to identify the unknowns, and express all other information in terms of those unknowns.
Example
Mary is ๐ฅ years old this year.
Her brother is 3 years older than her, and her mother is 3 times her age.
Express the ages of Mary’s brother and her mother in terms of ๐ฅ.
Worked Solution
Since Mary’s brother is 3 years older than her, her brother’s age this year is: (๐ฅ +3) years old
Since Mary’s mother is 3 times her age, to find her age, we will take 3 times Mary’s age or 3ร๐ฅ = 3๐ฅ years old