ALGEBRA TILES

=

BALANCEBoth sides must remain equal, so if you

change one side of the balance, you mustchange the other in the same way!

KEY= x

= 1

= -1These work the same way the pictures (and candy!) work.

= - x

73x

=We need to isolate the variable (x)…

73x

=

4

33

73

x

x

…which means we need to take away 3 from both sides…

…so we are left with x = 4.

52x

=We need to isolate the variable (x)…

…but there are no negatives to take away…

52x

=

…so we need to make zero pairs…

…by adding two positives to both sides…

52x

=

7

22

52

x

x

…which allows us to cancel the -2 on the left, but leaves us with x = 7.

84 x

=We need to isolate one of the variables (x)…

84 x

=…which means we need to split both sides into equal groups…

84 x

=

2

844

x

x

4

…so we are left with x = 2.

=We need to isolate one of the variables (x)…

42 x

=…which means we need to split both sides into equal groups…

42 x

=

224

22

x

x

…so we are left with -x = 2…

42 x

42 x

=

22

4

22

x

x

…but we need x not - x so we take the opposite of both sides x = -2.

32

x

=We want to know what one whole variable equals…

…but we only have half…

32

x

= 6

232

2

x

x

…so we need to double what we have on both sides, leaving x = -6.