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In this activity, all the answers will be whole positive numbers or zero.
An equation with two variables involves two numbers which must be found.
"I think of two numbers.
When I double the first and add this to the second, I get 8."
In written algebra, when a and b stand for two numbers, we can change the problem above into this:
2a + b = 8
This means that twice a added to b must come to 8.
a and b are whole positive numbers or zero.
What could they be?
If a is 0, b must be 8
If a is 1, b must be 8 - 2 = 6
If a is 2, b must be 8 - 4 = 4
If a is 3, b must be 8 - 6 = 2
If a is 4, b must be 8 - 8 = 0
The results can be shown in a table:
| a | b |
|---|---|
| 0 | 8 |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 0 |
There are five solutions.
Shall we have a go at this in some questions now?
