you`re allready doing algebra

Algebra is a very large word. Yes, there's only 7 letters and there are many words with over 7 letters. When you're a beginning math student and you hear the word "Algebra" there is no bigger word. This is a word that strikes fear in the learner and the parent alike. There are many people who turn white at the mere mentioning of the word. They see a math that is filled with letters and numbers.

Letters? Letters are not suppose to be in the math world. Letters should know their place and stay in the English world where they belong, not running amuck in the math world. But there they are, sitting in ever Algebraic problem that exists. How can you find "X" these algebraic neophytes yell, it's a letter not a number.

What most people don't realize, they've been doing Algebra all their life. There have always been problems with question marks and blank spaces. These are algebra problems in thew making. Remember the old problems in 2nd and 3rd grade: 5 + ? = 10 or 10 - ? =2 ? These are to teach you your addition and subtraction skills, but they were also teaching you your algebra skills. You added items for the question marks till you got it right. Algebra gives you the tools to do it the easy way and makes it so you don't have to guess. In reality the same problems could also be written, 5 + x = 10 or 10 - x = 2...find x. You've always been doing algebra, it's just a matter of perspective.