4. A N O PERATOR IS A SYMBOL ( SUCH AS +, ×, ETC ) THAT SHOWS AN OPERATION ( IE WE WANT TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE VALUES ). A T ERM IS EITHER A SINGLE NUMBER OR A VARIABLE, OR NUMBERS AND VARIABLES MULTIPLIED TOGETHER. A N E XPRESSION IS A GROUP OF TERMS ( THE TERMS ARE SEPARATED BY + OR − SIGNS )

5. T HE " EXPONENT ", BEING 3 IN THIS EXAMPLE, STANDS FOR HOWEVER MANY TIMES THE VALUE IS BEING MULTIPLIED. T HE THING THAT ' S BEING MULTIPLIED, BEING 5 IN THIS EXAMPLE, IS CALLED THE " BASE ". T HIS PROCESS OF USING EXPONENTS IS CALLED " RAISING TO A POWER ", WHERE THE EXPONENT IS THE " POWER ".

6. A LGEBRA USES LETTERS ( LIKE X OR Y ) OR OTHER SYMBOLS IN PLACE OF VALUES, AND THEN PLAYS WITH THEM USING SPECIAL RULES. E XAMPLE : X + 3 = 7. " X " IS USED IN PLACE OF A VALUE WE DON ' T KNOW YET AND IS CALLED THE " UNKNOWN " OR THE " VARIABLE ".

7. A fixed value. In Algebra, a constant is a number on its own, or sometimes a letter such as a, b or c to stand for a fixed number. Example: in "x + 5 = 9", 5 and 9 are constants.

8. A NUMBER USED TO MULTIPLY A VARIABLE. E XAMPLE : 6 Z MEANS 6 TIMES Z, AND " Z " IS A VARIABLE, SO 6 IS A COEFFICIENT. V ARIABLES WITH NO NUMBER HAVE A COEFFICIENT OF 1. E XAMPLE : X IS REALLY 1 X. S OMETIMES A LETTER STANDS IN FOR THE NUMBER.

9. A N ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSION IS A MATHEMATICAL PHRASE THAT CAN CONTAIN ORDINARY NUMBERS, VARIABLES ( LIKE X OR Y ) AND OPERATORS ( LIKE ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, AND DIVIDE ). H ERE ARE SOME ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS : A + 1.

11. A N ALGEBRAIC SOLUTION OR SOLUTION IN RADICALS IS A CLOSED - FORM EXPRESSION, AND MORE SPECIFICALLY A CLOSED - FORM ALGEBRAICEXPRESSION, THAT IS THE SOLUTION OF AN ALGEBRAIC EQUATION IN TERMS OF THE COEFFICIENTS, RELYING ONLY ON ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION, RAISING TO INTEGER POWERS, AND THE EXTRACTION