A
A value, or values, we can put in place of a variable (such as x) that makes the equation true.
solution
An "input" value of a function.
independent variable
The "output" value of a function.
(It is called dependent because its value depends on what you put into the function.)
Dependent Variable
Finding what to multiply to get an expression. (Called Factorizing in British English.
Factoring
The Distributive Law says that multiplying a number by a group of numbers added together is the same as doing each multiplication separately.
Distributive Law
How much there is of something.
Quantity
The power (or exponent) of a number says how many times to use the number in a multiplication.
It is written as a small number to the right and above the base number.
power
The "Multiplicative Identity" is 1, because multiplying a number by 1 leaves it unchanged:
Multiplicative Identity
In Algebra a term is either a single number or variable, or numbers and variables multiplied together.
Terms are separated by + or − signs, or sometimes by divide.
Term
The "Additive Identity" is 0, because adding 0 to a number does not change it:
a + 0 = 0 + a = a
Additive Identity
A number used to multiply a variable.
Example: 6z means 6 times z, and "z" is a variable, so 6 is a coefficient.
Variables with no number have a coefficient of 1.e: x is really 1x.
Sometimes a letter stands in for the number.
Example: In ax2 + bx + c, "x" is a variable, and "a" and "b" are coefficients.
coefficient
The exponent of a number says how many times to use that number in a multiplication.
It is written as a small number to the right and above the base.
exponent
To square a number: just multiply it by itself.
Example: "4 squared" is 4 × 4 = 16
Often shown with a little 2 in the corner like this: 42 = 16
that is said "4 squared equals 16"
A square number is the number we get after multiplying an integer (not a fraction) by itself.
Square (Numbers)
The result of multiplying a whole number by itself twice.
Example: 3 × 3 × 3 = 27, so 27 is a cube number.
The whole number is used three times, just like the sides of a cube.
Here are the first few cube numbers:
1 (=1×1×1)
8 (=2×2×2)
27 (=3×3×3)
64 (=4×4×4)
125 (=5×5×5)
... etc
Cube Number
A symbol for a value we don't know yet. It is usually a letter like x or y.
Example: in x + 2 = 6, x is the variable.
Why "variable" when it may have just one value? In the case of x + 2 = 6 we can solve it to find that x = 4. But in something like y = x + 2 (a linear equation) x can have many values. In general it is much easier to always call it a variable even though in some cases it is a single value.
Variable