Step 7 Objective
Construct and solve linear equations with integer coefficients (with and without brackets, with negative signs anywhere in the equation, and with a positive or negative solution) using an appropriate method.
- Examples of what pupils should
know and be able to do - Probing questions
- What if pupils find
this a barrier?
Probing questions
The area of this rectangle is 10 cm². What is its width? What do we need to find?
2x + 7 = 13. What is the question?
How do you decide where to start when solving a linear equation?
Having given the pupils a list of linear equations, ask:
- Which of these are easy to solve? Which are difficult and why?
- What are the things you need to look out for in solving these kinds of equations?
- What strategies are important with the difficult ones?
6 = 2p – 8. How many solutions does this equation have? Give me other equations with the same solution. Why? How do you know?
How do you go about constructing equations from information given in a problem? How do you check whether it works?