Watch: What is an equation?
SETH: ‘Ey up, Jed, remember when we helped Lady Charity Ball from Eckerslyke, when she needed help putting pictures up of her beloved Yorkie dog?
JED: Aye.
DOG BARKS
LADY CHARITY BALL: Oh there you are Geoffrey, my darling!
SETH: By ‘eck, that lass loves the little rascal.
JED: Aye.
SETH: Lady Ball tells me she had 15 pictures in all, and I could see that 6 were already on t'wall.
Using algebra, I were able to work out 'ow many holes were needed.
I solved this equation by ensuring that only the x is left on t'one side.
Whatever I did to t'one side, I also had to do to t’other.
In this case I subtracted 6 from both sides and were left with x = 9.
By ‘eck, we need 9 holes, Jed.
DRILLING & BANGING SOUNDS
SETH: Job’s a good’un.
JED: Aye. Reet good.
DOG WHINING
How do you solve equations?
When you are solving an equation, you have to move everything except the missing number to one side.
Anything you do to one side, you must also do to the other.
For example:
6 + x = 15
To work out the value of x, first subtract 6 from the left side.
6 + x - 6 = x
Then subtract 6 from the right side too.
15 - 6 = 9
So you are left with x = 9.
Activities
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Teaching resources
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Play our fun maths game Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica. game
Use your times tables and more maths skills to defeat monsters and reclaim the Kingdom of Mathematica
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