ALGEBRA SYMBOLS : THE LETTER SYMBOLS
AS CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES EXPLAINED

Please study
Basic Algebra before Algebra Symbols
if you have not already done so.

Algebra Symbols : Variables and Constants

In arithmetic, the numbers
have definite values.
These values do not change.

But the literals (Algebra Symbols)
used in algebra have no particular
value and may have any value
assigned to them.

For example,
look at the formula given in

Example 2 of Algebra 1 Help,

which is p = 2(l+b)
where p = perimeter of a rectangle,
l = length of the rectangle,
b = width of the rectangle.

Here '2' is a fixed number.
'2' is a constant.
The letters p, l, b have no fixed value.

They can take any positive value
depending upon the size of the rectangle.

p,l,b are variables.

similarly, in

Example 1 of What is Algebra

when you decided to give 2 chocolates
per student, chocolates needed = 2xN
where N = Number of students.

Here '2' is a fixed number.
'2' is a constant.

The letter 'N' can take any
natural number value depending
upon the number of students.
'N' is a variable.

A letter symbol which can take
any value (of a certain set) is
called a variable.

Quantities which have only one
fixed value are called constants.

NOTE: In some cases literals
are also used to denote constants.
In such cases, the fact will be
specifically mentioned.

For example, if a is a constant
and x is a variable,

and have to deal with their product, then we write their product as
ax and specifically mention that
a is a constant and x is a variable.

To know about Term in Algebra,
a combination of terms called
Algebraic Expression, the jargon
associated with Algebra Terms
such as Factors of a term,
Constant Term, Coefficient,
Like and Unlike terms etc
with Examples, Go To

ALGEBRA TERMS