What is Algebra?

Have you ever wondered or asked yourself, what is algebra? Where did it originate
from? How is algebra applied in real-life situations? Don’t worry. This article will take
you step by step in understanding algebra and solve a few algebraic problems.
Basically, students will start their mathematical journey by learning to perform
basic operations such as addition and subtraction. From there, a student will
advance to multiplication and then to division. Later or sooner, a student will reach
a point where they can tackle complex problems. What are we talking about?
Algebra, of course!

Some people wrongly refer to algebra as the operation which deals with letters and
numbers. In fact, Algebra was in existence before the invention of the printing press
more than 2500 years ago. The introduction of printing initiated the use of symbols
in algebra. Therefore, Algebra is well defined as the use of mathematical equations
to model ideas. We model ideas in the form of mathematical equations to solve the
problems around us.