When will I use algebra in real life?!

Oh how many times have maths teachers been asked this question? - and not just by their students!

Difficult problems in the real world, can sometimes be solved if the problem can be formalised into algebra.  As a simple example:

Now you could guess a number for how much money Susan has.  Then using that guess, you can calculate Paul and Kate's amounts.  Hopefully the three numbers will total £70.

But, is that efficient?  Using algebra, we can write all the information into an equation and solve!

Contact maths-starters.net for engaging and effective teaching and learning of mathematics.

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