Answer:
You've learned how to work with variables and how to evaluate algebra expressions, now we are going to translate words into algebraic expressions.
This skill will come in handy when working with word problems or real life situations. Pay close attention to the "key words" that represent mathematical operations.
You are probably very used to translating words into numerical expressions. Think about this...
We are used to seeing the words, plus, sum, difference, minus, product ...
The good news is that these very same words that we use to write numerical expressions are going to be used to write algebra expressions.
The difference between a numerical expression and an algebra expression is that we will be using variables when writing an algebraic expression. Instead of "8 plus 9" (with two given numbers), you would see, "a number plus 9".
We don't know exactly "what number", so we would use a variable to indicate that it can be any number.
Key words for each operation are indicated in bold. This will help you to easily translate the expression.
As, you can see from the red, bold words, the key words for addition are: sum, more than, plus, increase, add, older than.
Please also remember that addition is commutative; therefore, you can reverse the digits and you will end up with the same answer.
Now, let's take a look at the key words for subtraction.
