What Does That Mean?

Math-English Dictionary

Every field has "jargon" - those words that make sense only to people who work in that field. Well, mathematics is no different. Since this blog is for the person drowning in mathematics, I created a "Math-English" dictionary for you to explain some of the terms.

If you ever encounter a word on my blog that you don't know, please contact me through the comments or by email, and I will add the "translation" in this dictionary.

E
expression - a combination of terms. They can be combined using all the operations. Expressions, unlike equations do not have an equal sign, and are not "solve-able". For example, 3x+2y-4xy is an expression.

T

term - a number and a variable together. For example, 3x - where 3 is the coefficient, and x is the variable. If you think you have a variable without a coefficient, remember, the coefficient of x is 1, so x is still a "term."


V

variable - a letter that represents a number that can change. For example, the variable x can be any number. It doesn't represent a specific number, but rather represents "any number"

If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments, email me, ask on Facebook, or on Twitter. I am on Facebook and Twitter live from 3:00-3:30 pm Mon-Thurs MDT.