In this video, we are going to learn how to turn verbal expressions and equations into algebraic expressions and equations. When turning expressions into mathematical expressions, we use keywords to determine the operation that should be used. Specific keywords or phrases in the verbal expression allows us to also determine the order of numbers and variables, “greater than”, “less than”, and “difference of”. After you finish this lesson, view all of our Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 lessons and practice problems.
Verbal Expressions to Algebraic Expressions
x increased by 5
x decreased by 5
x less than 5
Verbal Equations to Algebraic Equations
Examples of Verbal To Algebraic Expressions & Equations
Example 1
The product of and
decreased by
The product of and
would be
which we know is
.
Decreased means we subtract.
Therefore, the algebraic expression is,
Example 2
The quotient of and
is less than
Since quotient is the answer to division, it would be
The less than sign is
Therefore,
Video-Lesson Transcript
Let’s go over changing verbal expression into algebraic expressions.
For example:
increased by
this will be
.
decreased by
since it’s a decrease, we are taking
away from
. So this becomes
.
greater than
, here we have
more than
. We have
and we’re increasing it by
. Here we have
.
less than
. So think about this, if we have
less than
. We have
and we’re taking
away from it. So it’s
.
The sum of and
is just
.
The difference of and
, difference is the answer to subtraction so we have is
.
Then the product of and
would be
which we know is
.
The order isn’t important in multiplication and addition.
The quotient of and
, since quotient is the answer to division our answer would be
.
You should get familiar with these different expressions. Some may memorize these. But it’s nice to look at these expressions and make sense of it.
Now, let’s look at changing verbal equations to algebraic equations.
Verbal equations are expressions that have equal signs.
So, we’re going to do this in equality. Like equal to, less than, greater than, less than or equal to, or greater than or equal to.
Let’s have some examples.
greater than
is
.
This becomes .
The product of and
is less than
.
The difference of and
is greater than
.
more than the product of
and
is
.
Let me point out the difference between these two:
less than
and
is less than
less than
is
While is less than
is
.
“Is” in the sentence is an equality sign. That’s why we come up with the less than sign.