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University of Nottingham
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Building and solving complex equations
This resource develops the concept of solving equations where the unknown appears once or more than once.
Students are given the equation
x = 6
and then told that the value of x could have been derived from the equation
3x = 2x + 6
Students are then construct their own equation where x appears on both sides, that would solve to give the answer x = 6
Students then go on to build, check and solve more complex equations where the unknown appears more than once. Templates are provided to help students with this activity.
The work here can be approached at a variety of levels of sophistication. To gain the most from the work requires some familiarity with algebraic operations such as multiplying brackets.
This is a concept development lesson from the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service, a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the Shell Centre team at the University of Nottingham. Further information on the collection is given here.
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