Concept

Translating English Phrases to Algebraic Expressions

To translate an English phrase into an algebraic expression, one identifies the underlying operation keywords to convert words into mathematical symbols. The four arithmetic operations are associated with specific verbal cues:

  • Addition (a+ba + b): "plus," "sum," "increased by," "more than," "total," "added to"
  • Subtraction (aba - b): "minus," "difference," "decreased by," "less than," "subtracted from"
  • Multiplication (aba \cdot b, abab, a(b)a(b), (a)(b)(a)(b)): "times," "product," "twice" (indicating 2a2a)
  • Division (a÷ba \div b, a/ba/b, ab\frac{a}{b}): "divided by," "quotient," "ratio," "divided into"

A common structural pattern in these translations is "the [operation word] of [first quantity] and [second quantity]." In this phrasing, the words of and and explicitly identify the two values to be operated on. For instance, "the sum of aa and bb" translates to a+ba + b, while "the quotient of aa and bb" translates to a÷ba \div b.

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Updated 2026-05-01

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