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The Formal Rules of Algebra PDF
The Formal Rules of Algebra PDF
The Formal Rules of Algebra PDF
These are the "rules" that govern the use of the = sign.
2. The commutative rules of addition and multiplication
𝒂 + 𝒃 = 𝒃 + 𝒂
𝒂· 𝒃 = 𝒃· 𝒂
3. The associative rules of addition and multiplication
(𝒂 + 𝒃) + 𝒄 = 𝒂 + (𝒃 + 𝒄)
(𝒂 × 𝒃) × 𝒄 = 𝒂 × (𝒃 × 𝒄)
4. The identity elements of addition and multiplication:
𝒂 + 𝟎 = 𝟎 + 𝒂 = 𝒂
𝒂· 𝟏 = 𝟏· 𝒂 = 𝒂
0 and 1are the identity elements for addition and multiplication respectively
5. The additive inverse of a is −a
𝒂 + (−𝒂) = −𝒂 + 𝒂 = 𝟎
𝟏
6. The multiplicative inverse or reciprocal of a is symbolized as 𝒂 (a 0)
𝟏 𝒂
𝒂 × = = 𝟏, The product of a number and its reciprocal is 1
𝒂 𝒂
1
8. The algebraic definition of division
𝒂 𝟏
𝒂÷𝒃= =𝒂× , 𝒃≠𝟎
𝒃 𝒃
−(−𝒂) = 𝒂
𝒃 − 𝒂 = −(𝒂 − 𝒃)
13. Multiplying/Factoring
If −𝒂 = 𝒃, then 𝒂 = −𝒃.
We may change every sign on both sides of an equation.
2
16. Change of sign on both sides of an inequality: Change of direction (sense)
If 𝒙⁄𝒂 = 𝒃, then 𝒙 = 𝒂𝒃
18. Change of sense when solving an inequality
𝒃
If −𝒂𝒙 < 𝒃, then 𝒙>−
𝒂
𝒂 𝒄 𝒂 𝒅 𝒂𝒅
÷ = × = or equivalently
𝒃 𝒅 𝒃 𝒄 𝒃𝒄
𝒂 𝒃 𝒂𝒅 ± 𝒃𝒄
± = Different denominators
𝒄 𝒅 𝒄𝒅
3
Laws of Exponents
Laws Examples
1) 𝒙𝟏 = 𝒙 𝟔𝟏 = 𝟔
2) 𝒙𝟎 = 𝟏 𝟕𝟎 = 𝟏
4) 𝒙𝒎 𝒙𝒏 = 𝒙𝒎+𝒏 𝒙𝟐 𝒙𝟑 = 𝒙𝟐+𝟑 = 𝒙𝟓
7) (𝒙𝒚)𝒏 = 𝒙𝒏 𝒚𝒏 (𝒙𝒚)𝟑 = 𝒙𝟑 𝒚𝟑
𝒎 𝒎
𝒏 𝒏
Proof of 11): 𝒙 𝒏 = √𝒙𝒎 = � √𝒙� follows from the fact that
𝒎
= 𝒎 × (𝟏/𝒏) = (𝟏/𝒏) × 𝒎
𝒏