Word

Definition

Examples

Constant

Quantity that doesnt change, such as a number

6,9, 1

Variable

An unknown quantity represented by a letter

x, y, a

Term

The product of a constant and a variable, or a quantity separated from

other quantities by addition or subtraction.

4, g, 8h

Coefficient A number that appears in front of a variable and tells how many of that
variable there are.
Expression

Any combination of terms

Equation

Two expressions linked by an equal sign.

5 is the coefficient
of 5t

3,

Solving Equations
At its core, algebra is like placing your coat on the movie seat next to you while your friend goes to
get popcorn. People looking at that seat dont actually see your friend. What they see is a placeholder
meant to signify that a person is sitting there. If we were to make an equation to represent this, it
would be:
coat = your friend

or simply:
c = friend

Thats what algebra is all about. Letters (variables) are used to represent an undefined quantity in
an expression or equation. So in the equation 3w + 6 = 23, the variable w is merely a placeholder
for some real number that has yet to be determined.
Typically, you need to get to the bottom of the mystery and determine the numeric value of w. This is
called manipulating the equation by isolating the variable. It sounds a bit wicked, but you wont get
in trouble for doing it. Isolating the variable means you want to mess with the equation until you are
left with only the variable w on one side of the equation. An actual number should be on the other
side of the equals sign. To manipulate the equation, you can add, subtract, multiply, divide, square,
or take the square root of numbers, but whatever you do to one side of the equation, you must also
do the other side. You can be manipulative, but you have to be fair about it.
The starting point:
3w + 6 = 23

subtracting 6 from both sides:

3w + 6 6 = 23 6
3w = 17

dividing 3 from both sides:

Ta da! The variable has been isolated, and by manipulating the equation you get an actual numeric
value for it.
A majority of the algebra items you see on the SAT will require some bit of manipulation. We can
bring back our sample item from the Anatomy section and manipulate it to find the answer.
4.

If

and

, what does b equal?

Start with the equation. Here we want to isolate b:

Now we plug in the given value for a.

Then we square both sides.

4096 = b

This item brings up a good point. The equation with the variable w is pretty straightforward. Most
real SAT items arent. They are filled with fractions, exponents, and k, where k is a variable
representing the kitchen sink. Its all still manipulation, though, so remember to do to one side what
you do to the other, and it will all work out.

Distribution and Factoring

These are two nifty little equation-manipulating gimmicks that crop up on algebra items from time to
time. Distribution takes a term outside a set of parentheses and distributes it across all the terms
inside the parentheses. So if you have 6(3w + 8), you could distribute the 6 in the following manner:
6(3w + 8) = (6)(3w) + (6)(8) = 18w + 48

Great, but so what? you might say in your most bored, underwhelmed voice. Well, it just so
happens that many really complicated-looking algebra items become simpler after distribution. But
dont take our word for it:

By distributing, you now have two similar terms that cancel each other out:

Factoring is distribution in reverse. With factoring, you notice common factors that can be taken
out of an equation. Starting with
that the factored equation becomes

, you can take out the greatest common factor, 7rb, so

.

Absolute Value and Exponents

You can remember absolute value by thinking of the two thin upright bars that denote it, , as the
Chipper Police. The Chipper Police are determined that everyone be positive, so no number that
comes out from between those two bars is negative.
Any value inside the Chipper Police bars has to emerge as zero or greater. So
and if you have
, then f could equal either 5 or 5. This either/or ambiguity is what the test-makers like about
absolute value, so once you see those bars, alarms should start ringing. Theres a reason absolute
value works this way. Feel free to look it up if thats your thing. For the SAT, just remember the
Chipper Police are always turning a negative into a positive.
This same tricky can-be-positive-or-negative gambit also crops up when you have even-numbered
exponents, such as or
. Exponents are those raised numbers that show how many times a
quantity is multiplied by itself. When you multiply two negatives, you get a positive, so if you have
, then x could be either 3 or 3. When rushing through the test or when time is running out,
many students jump to x = 3 without considering the fact that x can also be negative. Expect this trap
to appear at least once on the Math section.

Simultaneous Equations
Simultaneous equation items are based on the premise that seeing not just one but two equations
causes your brain to leap out of your skull and go cower under a rock. This should be avoided, so lets
review.
You will have two equations that contain two of the same variables:
Two equations, two variables (c and d), and two methods you can use to solve them:
Method 1: Take one equation and solve for one variable in terms of the other, then plug
that into the second equation.
Well take the first equation, solve for d, then plug that into the second equation.

Notice that we did a little distributing in there, along with all the arithmetic manipulation. Once you
have a value for c, you can plug that back into the equation that isolated d.

Method 1 can take some time, but it always works. Method 2 requires a little bit of planning, but it
can save you time, so see whether you like it. The key is to answer items correctly, so choose the
method with which you are most comfortable.
Method 2: Add or subtract one equation from the other to eliminate one of the
variables.
Figuring out how to do this sometimes takes a little manipulating. Look at the two equations again

If you take the first equation and multiply both sides by 2, you have:

The new first equation c term, 4c, would now cancel the c term in the second equation, 4c, if you
were to add the equations together. Lets do just that, then:

Once you have a value for d, you can plug it back into any of the above equations to find the value for
c, which will once again be 14.
If you set up the equations right, Method 2 can be a bit faster. Thats why you should spend a
moment viewing both equations to see whether you can figure out a way to cancel out one term. If
you can, proceed with Method 2. If you cant, dont waste more time. Just go with reliable Method 1.

Inequalities and Ranges

When the equal sign in an equation is replaced by a less than (<) or greater than (>) sign, you have
an inequality. You can still manipulate both sides of the inequality, and you can still distribute and
factor to your hearts content. In fact, there is only one thing you have to remember when dealing
with inequalities: If you multiply or divide both sides by a negative number, switch the
direction of the inequality sign.
Now heres a pop question to test your SAT savvy. Because this is the one weird thing about
inequalities, how often do you think it pops up on the SAT? Your answer choices are Never,
Sometimes, and All the freakin time. No hurry. Well wait.
If you answered all the freakin time, bully for you. Youre starting to get the hang of the test. You
see, almost every SAT item has a catch to it. If you know the catch, the item becomes easy.
Check out the following item:
7.

Which of the following number lines accurately expresses the range of x if

The whole point of this item is to look wacky, because wacky means unsolvable in most peoples
minds. The long string of numbers and letters is just two inequalities crammed together. If you like,
you could separate them into
and
. It doesnt matter. The key thing is to
isolate the variable x first. Once you do that, you can jump into the answer choices.

You learned earlier that you can perform any operation on an equation, as long as you perform the
same operation to the other side. The same is true of inequalities. Its also true of two combined
inequalities. Watch what we do to the string of letters and numbers. To isolate x, well first add 10 to
each part:

Now we have to get rid of that 2 in front of the x. Because we have to divide by 2, dont forget to
switch the signs:

Thats the inequality manipulation part of this item. Now you must match what youve discovered
with the number line answer choices. Look at the first segment of your answer,
. If x is less
than -1, head to the 1 on all the number lines and look for a hollow circle heading left. The circle is
hollow because x is not equal to -1, so 1 cant be included. The arrow should head to the left
because this covers all the numbers less than -1.
A pass through the answer choices should eliminate everything except D and E. If youre pressed for
time at this point, you can take a guess and move on. If not, all you need to do is look at the second
part of your manipulated equations, which states:
. That single line under the > is the bottom
half of an equals sign. Its telling you, x is greater than or equal to 4. On a number line, this is
represented by a filled-in circle on the number item. The answer is D.
The answer choices for this item show ranges of value that a variable can take. Answer choice D
shows the different range of values that x can have if
. Because theres a break between the
values x could have, it is called a disjointed range. If this range were to go to some range
chiropractor and get its joint fixed, it might end up looking like choice A. Because choice A has an
upper bound (4) and a lower bound (right up to 1), it is known as a single range.