Pre-Algebra 101

An understanding of algebra is a foundational skill to virtually all topics in higher-level mathematics, and it is useful in science, statistics, accounting, and numerous other professional and academic areas. This course builds a bridge between simple whole-number arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and algebra.

This course begins by reviewing the basic arithmetic operations and their mutual relationships, and it then goes on to develop an understanding of fractions and how to perform operations on them. Exponents and their properties are then derived, and radicals (and other roots) are presented.

This course shows how exponents and roots are related, as well as how these are related to multiplication and division. Throughout this first portion of the course, the use of symbols in place of numbers is introduced and developed, leading to an investigation into variables and algebraic relations in the latter portion of the course.

This course also describes how to graph algebraic relations and how to solve simple linear equations. Finally, the course applies these various concepts to geometry by considering some of the characteristics of triangles, rectangles, and circles, and it also applies them to basic probability and statistics.