Mary Jane Sterling - Algebra I - 1001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice)

Chapter 2

The properties used in mathematics were established hundreds of years ago. Mathematicians around the world wanted to be able to communicate with one another; more specifically, they wanted to get the same answers when working on the same questions. To help with that, they developed and adopted rules such as the commutative property of addition and multiplication, the associative property of addition and multiplication, and the distributive property.

To strengthen your skills with algebraic properties and notation, you’ll practice doing the following in this chapter:

Using the distributive property of multiplication over addition and subtraction

Paying attention to the order of operations

Simplifying radicals and radical expressions

Reassociating terms for easier computation

Regrouping and commuting for ease and accuracy

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you work in this chapter:

Distributing a negative number over several terms and being sure to apply the negative sign to each term

Recognizing the fraction line as a grouping symbol

Performing the absolute value operation when it’s used as a grouping symbol

Applying the correct exponent when multiplying or dividing variables

51–58 Simplify the expressions.

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59–64 Simplify the expressions involving radicals and absolute value.

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65–72 Perform the distributions over addition and subtraction.

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73–78 Use the associative property to simplify the expressions.

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