Mathematics in the Modern World

First Semester SY 2018 – 2019

Daniella Marie B. Taguiam

Instructor

 
 CHAPTER 2

Mathematical Language and Symbols

(Week 2 to Week 4)

 
At the end of the chapter you will be able to:

1. Discuss the language, symbols and conventions

in mathematics;
2. Explain the nature of mathematics as a language
mathematical concepts;
3. Perform operations on mathematical expressions
correctly; and
4. Use mathematical language to describe and
solve problems with mathematics content.
 
 WEEK 2
Mathematical Language

 
 Characteristics Of Mathematical Language

 It is non – temporal.
 It has no emotional content.
 It is concise and precise.

 
 It is non – temporal.

It has no past, present and future. There

is no conjugation of words in
Mathematics in the manner that English
has a conjugation of verbs.

 
 It has no emotional content.
Math language carries no emotional content. It has
no equivalent words for joy, happiness, despair, or
sadness.

It also does not speak about values in the manner

that people speak about human values in society.
 
 It precise and concise.
Math language is precise and concise. It is exact and
accurate in its statements and as a consequence, it
has no need for unnecessary words. This is not
always helpful to students, because being novice in
Math they need a little more elaboration, more
exploration and more explanation from their
teachers.
 
 Mathematical Expression
A mathematical expression is a group of characters or
symbols representing a quantity and/or expression.

An algebraic expression is a mathematical expression

which contains numbers, variables represented by
letters and operations that indicate addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division.

ADDITION SUBTRACTION MULTIPLICATION DIVISION

Plus Minus Times Divided by
The sum of The difference of The product of The
Increased by Decreased by Multiplied by quotient of
Total Fewer than Per
More than Less than
Added to Subtracted from
 
Example 1
Translating verbal phrases to
Mathematical expressions :
1. The sum of a number and 10
2. The difference of a number and 20
3. The product of 15 and a number
4. The quotient of 30 and a number
5. One – tenth of a number

 
Answers
1. n + 10
2. n – 20
3. 15 x n
4. 30 ÷ n
5. (1/10) n

 
Example 2
Translate the following verbal phrases
into mathematical expressions:

1. Three – fifths of 450

2. The sum of 2 numbers less 15
3. Twenty percent of the total cost
4. Triple the quantity of sales less taxes
5. The difference of gross sales and
total expenditures
 
Answers
1. 3/5 × 450
2. (x+y) - 15
3. 0.2 x n where n is the total cost
4. 3x - y where x is the quantity of
sales and y is the total amount
of taxes
5. x - y where x is the gross sales
and y is the total expenditure
 
Example 3
Translate the following verbal sentences into
mathematical sentences:

1. Fifteen percent of the total expenditures is

P15,000.
2. Gross sales less taxes is P20,000.
3. My classmate’s monthly allowance is twice
what my roommate receives in a month.
Their combined monthly allowances is
P36,000.
4. Jakob’s average of two exams is 96. The
first exam is 8 points higher than the
 
second.
Answers in Example 3

1. Let x be the total expenditures

0.15x=15,000
2. Let x be the gross sales
y be the taxes
a – b = 20,000
3. Let x be my classmate’s monthly allowance
y be my roommate’s monthly allowance
x = 2y
x + y =36,000
4. Let x be Jakob’s first exam
y be Jakob’s second exam
(x + y)/2 = 96
x=8+y  
 SEATWORK
Chapter 2 : Math as a Language