Mathematics Grade 7 File Name: Unit 6.

1 Handout

Unit 6.1: Equations

Lesson: Solving Equations

Remember:

Let’s review a few concepts about equations and expressions before we begin. What is an
equation?

 An equation is a mathematical sentence that uses numbers and or variables.

 There is a left and right side, which are equal.
 There is an equal sign.

What is an expression?
This is a mathematical sentence without an equal sign or left or right side. If you are
given a variable or unknown, then it is impossible to find the value of the expression until
you are given the value of the variable or the unknown.

Identify the following as expressions, equations or neither.

a) _________________________________________________

b) _________________________________________________

c) _________________________________________________

d) _________________________________________________

e) 5 _________________________________________________

Algebra has many uses, but the most important one is in the area of problem solving. You
can create an equation or expression for a problem and then solve it to get your solution.
Up to this point you have solved equations using the algebra tiles, but now we have to
move away from the tiles and into a more symbolic (no tiles) method.

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Before we go too far in this area, let’s practice creating some expressions from simple
phrases.

Example:

Four more than a number

Let n be the number, and then four more than that number is _________.

Eight less than a number

Let n be the number, eight less is __________.

A number divided by 6
Let n be the number, __________.

Sandy is 14 years older than her sister, create an expression for Sandy’s age.

Let her sister be n, and since Sandy is 14 more than her sister, then the expression
would be __________.

Creating Equations

Now that you have worked with expressions, let’s continue and create some equations.
The key to equations is that the word “is” is the equal sign.

Example:

Jon has 24 baseball cards, he increases the number he has by 20 and now has 44. Create
an equation to model this problem.

Jon has 24, increases by a number, now has 44

_____ _____ = ________

Example:

Brian was given 30 candies, and now has 41. How many was he given? Create an
equation to model this problem.

Has unknown amount (n), given 30, now has 41

__________ __________ = __________.

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Example:

There are 24 cans of coke in a case. If the case is 4 cans wide, how many cans long is the
case.

There are several options for this equation; you can solve this by division or by
multiplication.

Multiplication:

Since there are 24 cans in total and they are in 4 wide, 4 times the number in each

column must equal 24. So the equation is __________.

Division

It can also be divided.

We will be solving two types of equations.

One-step equations like those below. You will notice they have one mathematical function
in each one, add, subtract, divide or multiply. These are the ones that are easiest to solve
using inspection.

The two-step equations use two mathematical functions in the equation, for example.

These are called two-step equations, because they have two mathematical functions
combined.

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Let’s look at the one-step first:

Consider the following one-step equation:

Look at this equation, what is the value of x?

You can solve this if you think of the equation as “what number increased by 5 gives a
sum of 12? The answer is _____. This is called inspection; you look at the question
(inspect it) and then use your brain to solve the equation to get the value of the variable.

Example:

What number decreased by 3 gives a difference of 4? The answer is __________.

Example:

What number multiplied by 4 gives a product of 20? The answer is __________.

Example:

What number divided by 3 gives a quotient of 5? The answer is __________.

All the above are solved by using inspection. The two-step equations can also be done
that way.

Let’s create an equation for a problem and solve it.

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Example:

Andrew lost 15 hockey cards. He has 37 left. How many hockey cards did he have to start
with?

The equation that models this problem is _________________.

By inspection he started with ______ cards

Example:

Abba bought 15 DVD’s for $255. She paid the same amount for each DVD. How much did
Abba pay for each DVD?

The equation that models this problem is _________________.

By inspection Abba paid _______ for each DVD.

Example:

Jason has 57 math puzzles. He keeps 9 for himself, then divides the rest equally among his
8 friends.

Write an equation you can use to find the number of puzzles given to each friend.

The equations which model this problem are:

Solve the equation.

Each friend got _____ puzzles.

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Example:

A triangle has a three equal side lengths. If the perimeter is 51 cm, how long is each side?
Create an equation and then solve it to find the side length of the triangle.

the equation is ___________, solving it by inspection gives a side length of _______.

Example:

Bob has 800 dollars from winning the 50-50 draw at the hockey game. He keeps 200
dollars for himself and divides the rest amount his 12 friends. How much does each friend
get? Create an equation for the problem.

_______________________

This could also be shown as:

_______________________

Solving the problem by inspection or systematic trial gives a solution of ___________.

Each of his friends received ________.

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