Expressions and Equations

CAT Exam
Let’s take up a conceptual discussion on expressions and equations and the differences between them. The concept is quite simple but a discussion on these is warranted because of the similarity between the two. An expression contains numbers, variables and operators. For example x + 4 2x – 4x^2 5x^2 + 4x -18 and so on… These are all expressions. We CANNOT equate these expressions to 0 by default. We cannot solve for x in these cases. As the value of x changes, the value of the expression changes. For example, given x + 4, if x is 1, value of the expression is 5. If x is 2, value of the expression is 6. If value of the expression is given to be 10, x is 6 and so on. We cannot say, “Solve x + 4.” If we set an algebraic expression equal to something, with an “=“ sign, we have an equation. So here are some ways of converting the above expressions into equations: I. x + 4 = -3 II. 2x – 4x^2 = 0 III. 5x^2 + 4x -18 = 3x Now the equation can be solved. Note that the right hand side of the equation needn’t always be 0. It might be something other than 0 and you might need to make it 0 by bringing whatever is on the right hand side to the left hand side or by segregating the variable if possible: I. x + 4 = -3 x + 7 = 0 x = -7 II. 2x – 4x^2 = 0 2x(1 – 2x) = 0 x = 0 or 1/2 III. 5x^2 + 4x -18 – 3x = 0 5x^2 + x – 18 = 0 5x^2 + 10x – 9x – 18 = 0 5x(x + 2) -9(x + 2) = 0 (x + 2)(5x – 9) = 0 x = -2, 9/5 In each of these cases, we get only a few values for x because we were given equations. Think about what you mean by “solving an equation”. Let’s take a particular type of equation – a quadratic. This is how you usually depict a quadratic: f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c or y = ax^2 + bx + c This is a parabola – upward facing if a is positive and downward facing if a is negative. When we solve ax^2 + bx + c = 0 for x, it means, when y = 0, what is the value of x? So you are looking for x intercepts. When we solve ax^2 + bx + c = d for x, it means, when y = d, what is the value of x? Depending on the values of a, b, c and d, you may or may not get values for x. Let’s take an example: x^2 – 2x – 3 = 0 (x + 1)(x – 3) = 0 x = -1 or 3 This is what it looks like: images When y is 0, x can take two values: -1 and 3. So what do we do when we have x^2 – 2x -3 = -3? We solve it in the same way: x^2 – 2x -3 + 3 = 0 x(x – 2) = 0 x = 0 or 2 So when y is -3, x is 0 or 2. It has 2 values for y = -3 as is apparent from the graph too. Similarly, you can solve for it when y = 5 and get two values for x. What happens when you put y = -5? x will have no value for y = -5 so the equation x^2 – 2x – 3 = – 5 has no real solutions (so ‘no solutions’ as far as we are concerned). We hope you understand the difference between an expression and an equation now and also that you cannot equate any given expression to 0 and solve it.

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