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MATHEMATICS
Grade 9 - Term 1
CAPS
Learner Book
Revised edition

Developed and funded as an ongoing project by the Sasol Inzalo

Foundation in partnership with the Ukuqonda Institute.

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 Published by The Ukuqonda Institute
9 Neale Street, Rietondale 0084
Registered as a Title 21 company, registration number 2006/026363/08
Public Benefit Organisation, PBO Nr. 930035134
Website: http://www.ukuqonda.org.za

This edition published in 2017

© 2017. Copyright in the work is vested in the publisher.
Copyright in the text remains vested in the contributors.

ISBN: 978-1-4315-2881-3

This book was developed with the participation of the Department of Basic Education of
South Africa with funding from the Sasol Inzalo Foundation.

Contributors:
Herholdt Bezuidenhout, Lucinda Cruickshank, Marthinus de Jager, Gudrun Elliott,
Andrew Hofmeyr, Piet Human, Louise Keegan, Erna Lampen, Nathi Makae, Enoch Masemola,
Alwyn Olivier, Cerenus Pfeiffer, Rika Potgieter, Johan Pretorius, Renate Röhrs, Paul van Koersveld,
Therine van Niekerk, Dirk Wessels

Subject advisors from the DBE who contributed by means of review: The publisher
thanks those subject advisors of the DBE who reviewed this book series on four occasions in
2013-2014, as well as in October 2017. The authors changed the text so as to align with the
reviewers' requests/suggestions for improvements, as far as possible, and believe that the books
improved as a result of that.

Illustrations and computer graphics:

Leonora van Staden, Lisa Steyn Illustration
Zhandré Stark, Lebone Publishing Services

Computer graphics for chapter frontispieces: Piet Human

Cover illustration: Leonora van Staden

Text design: Mike Schramm

Layout and typesetting: Lebone Publishing Services

Printed by: [printer name and address]

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Your freedom to legally copy this book

This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International Licence (CC BY-NC).

You are allowed and encouraged to freely copy this book. You can photocopy, print
and distribute it as often as you like. You may download it onto any electronic
device, distribute it via email, and upload it to your website, at no charge. You may
also adapt the text and illustrations, provided you acknowledge the copyright
holders (“attribute the original work”).

Restrictions: You may not make copies of this book for a profit-seeking purpose.
This holds for printed, electronic and web-based copies of this book, and any part
of this book.

For more information about the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial

4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc/4.0/

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under

the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical 4.0
International licence.

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 Contents
Term 1
Chapter 1:
Whole numbers..................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2:
Integers................................................................................................... 19
Chapter 3:
Fractions.................................................................................................. 27
Chapter 4:
The decimal notation for fractions....................................................... 39
Chapter 5:
Exponents............................................................................................... 46
Chapter 6:
Patterns................................................................................................... 53
Chapter 7:
Functions and relationships.................................................................. 62
Chapter 8:
Algebraic expressions............................................................................ 67
Chapter 9:
Equations................................................................................................ 85

Term 2
Chapter 10:
Construction of geometric figures....................................................... 93
Chapter 11:
Geometry of 2D shapes........................................................................ 110
Chapter 12:
Geometry of straight lines.................................................................... 127
Chapter 13:
Pythagoras' Theorem............................................................................. 136
Chapter 14:
Area and perimeter of 2D shapes........................................................ 145

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Term 3
Chapter 15:
Functions................................................................................................ 157
Chapter 16:
Algebraic expressions............................................................................ 165
Chapter 17:
Equations................................................................................................ 176
Chapter 18:
Graphs.................................................................................................... 187
Chapter 19:
Surface area, volume and capacity of 3D objects.............................. 210
Chapter 20:
Transformation geometry...................................................................... 219
Chapter 21:
Geometry of 3D objects....................................................................... 235

Term 4
Chapter 22:
Collect, organise and summarise data................................................ 249
Chapter 23:
Representing data................................................................................. 257
Chapter 24:
Interpret, analyse and report on data.................................................. 269
Chapter 25:
Probability............................................................................................... 280

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Chapter 1
Whole numbers

1.1 Properties of numbers

different types of numbers

The natural numbers

The numbers that we use to count are called natural numbers:
1  2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14

Natural numbers have the following properties: Mathematicians describe this by

When you add two or more natural numbers, you saying: The system of natural
get a natural number again. numbers is closed under
addition and multiplication.
When you multiply two or more natural numbers,
you get a natural number again.
However, when a natural number is subtracted from another natural number, the
answer is not always a natural number again. For example, there is no natural number
that provides the answer to 5 – 20.
Similarly, when a natural number is divided by The system of natural numbers
another natural number, the answer is not always a is not closed under
natural number again. For example, there is no natural subtraction or division.
number that provides the answer to 10 ÷ 3.
When subtraction or division is done with
natural numbers, the answers are not always
natural numbers.
1. (a) Is there a smallest natural number, in other words, a natural number that is
smaller than all other natural numbers? If so, what is it?
(b) Is there a largest natural number, in other words, a natural number that is larger
than all other natural numbers? If so, what is it?

2. In each of the following cases, say whether the answer is a natural number or not:
(a) 100 + 400  (b) 100 – 400
(c) 100 × 400  (d) 100 ÷ 400

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 The whole numbers
Although we do not use 0 for counting, we need it to write numbers. Without 0, we would
need a special symbol for 10, all multiples of 10 and some other numbers. For example, all
the numbers that belong in the yellow cells below would need a special symbol.

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

The natural numbers combined with 0 is called the system of whole numbers.
If you are working with natural numbers and you add two numbers, the answer will
always be different from any of the two numbers added. For example:
21 + 25 = 46 and 24 + 1 = 25. If you are working with whole numbers, in other words
including 0, this is not the case. When 0 is added to a number the answer is just the
number you start with: 24 + 0 = 24.
For this reason, 0 is called the identity element for addition. In the set of natural
numbers there is no identity element for addition.

3. Is there an identity element for multiplication in the whole numbers? Explain

your answer.
4. (a) What is the smallest natural number?
(b) What is the smallest whole number?

The integers
In the set of whole numbers, no answer is available when you subtract a number from a
number smaller than itself. For example, there is no whole number that is the answer for
5 – 8. But there is an answer to this subtraction in the system of integers.
For example: 5 – 8 = −3. The number –3 is read as “negative 3” or “minus 3”.
Whole numbers start with 0 and extend in one direction:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 → → → ......
Integers extend in both directions:
...... ← ← ← −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 → → → ......

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All whole numbers are also integers. The set of whole numbers forms part of the set
of integers. For each whole number, there is a negative number that corresponds with it.
The negative number −5 corresponds to the whole number 5 and the negative number
−120 corresponds to the whole number 120.
Within the set of integers, the sum of two numbers can be 0.
For example 20 + (−20) = 0 and 135 + (−135) = 0.
20 and −20 are called additive inverses of each other.

5. Calculate the following without using a calculator:

(a) 100 − 165 (b) 300 − 700
6. You may use a calculator to calculate the following:
(a) 123 − 765 (b) 385 − 723

The rational numbers

7. Five people share 12 slabs of chocolate equally among them.

(a) Will each person get more or less than two full slabs of chocolate?
(b) Can each person get another half of a slab?
(c) How much more than two full slabs can each person
get, if the two remaining slabs are divided as shown here?
2
(d) Will each person get 2,4 or 2 slab?
5

The system of integers does not provide an answer for all possible division questions.
For example, as we see above, the answer for 12 ÷ 5 is not an integer.
To have answers for all possible division questions, we have to extend the number
system to include fractions and negative fractions, in other words, numbers of the form
integer
. This system of numbers is called rational numbers. We can represent
integer
rational numbers as common fractions or as decimal numbers.

8. Express the answers for each of the following division problems in two ways. Firstly,
using the common fraction notation and secondly, using the decimal notation for
fractions.
(a) 23 ÷ 10 (b) 23 ÷ 5
(c) 230 ÷ 100 (d) 8 ÷ 10

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 9. Copy the table and answer the statement by writing “yes” or “no” in the appropriate
cell.

Natural Whole Rational

Statement Integers
numbers numbers numbers

The sum of two numbers is a number of

the same kind (closed under addition).
The sum of two numbers is always
bigger than either of the two numbers.
When one number is subtracted from
another, the answer is a number of the
same kind (closed under subtraction).
When one number is subtracted from
another, the answer is always smaller
than the first number.
The product of two numbers is a
number of the same kind (closed under
addition).
The product of two numbers is always
bigger than either of the two numbers.
The quotient of two numbers is a
number of the same kind (closed under
division).
The quotient of two numbers is always
smaller than the first of the two
numbers.

Irrational numbers
Rational numbers do not provide for all situations that may occur in Mathematics.
For example, there is no rational number which will produce the answer 2 when it is
multiplied by itself.
(number) × (same number) = 2
2 × 2 = 4 and 1 × 1 = 1, so clearly, this number must be between 1 and 2.
But there is no number which can be expressed as a fraction, in either the common
fraction or the decimal notation, which will solve this problem. Numbers like these are
called irrational numbers.
Here are some more examples of irrational numbers: Rational and irrational
numbers together, are called
 5     10     3     7    π real numbers.

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1.2 Calculations with whole numbers

Do not use a calculator in Section 1.2, unless told to do so.

estimating, rounding off and compensating

1. A shop owner wants to buy chickens from a farmer. The farmer wants R38 for each
chicken. Answer the following questions without doing written calculations:
(a) If the shop owner has R10 000 to buy chickens, do you think he can buy more
than 500 chickens?
(b) Do you think he can buy more than 200 chickens?
(c) Do you think he can buy more than 250 chickens?

What you were trying to do in question 1 is called estimation. To estimate, when

working with numbers, means to try to get close to an answer without actually doing
the calculations. However, you can do other, simpler calculations to estimate.
When the goal is not to get an accurate answer,
To approximate something
numbers may be rounded off. For example, the cost means to try find out more or
of 51 chickens at R38 each may be approximated less how much it is, without
by calculating 50 × 40. This is clearly much easier measuring or calculating it
than calculating 51 × R38. precisely.

2. (a) How much is 5 × 4?

(b) How much is 5 × 40?
(c) How much is 50 × 40?

The cost of 51 chickens at R38 each is therefore, approximately R2 000.

This approximation was obtained by rounding both 51 and 38 off to the nearest
multiple of 10, and then calculating with the multiples of 10.

3. In each case, estimate the cost by rounding off to calculate the approximate cost,
without using a calculator. In each case, make two estimates. First make a rough
estimate by rounding the numbers off to the nearest 100 before calculating. Then
make a better estimate by rounding the numbers off to the nearest 10 before calculating.
(a) 83 goats are sold for R243 each (b) 121 chairs are sold for R258 each
(c) R5 673 is added to R3 277 (d) R874 is subtracted from R1 234

Suppose you have to calculate R823 − R273.

An estimate can be made by rounding the numbers off to the nearest 100:
R800 − R300 = R500.

4. (a) By working with R800 instead of R823, an error was introduced into your
answer. How can this error be corrected: by adding R23 to the R500, or by
subtracting it from R500?

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 (b) Correct the error to get a better estimate.
(c) Now also correct the error that was made by subtracting R300 instead of R273.

What you did in question 4 is called compensating for errors.

5. Estimate each of the following by rounding off the numbers to the nearest 100:
(a) 812 − 342 (b) 2 342 − 1 876
(c) 812 + 342 (d) 2 342 + 1 876
(e) 9 + 278 (f) 3 231 − 1 769
(g) 8 234 − 2 776 (h) 5 213 − 3 768

6. Find the exact answer for each of the calculations in question 5, by working out the
errors caused by rounding, and compensating for them.

adding in columns

1. (a) Write 8 000 + 1 100 + 130 + 14 as a single number.

(b) Write 3 000 + 700 + 50 + 8 as a single number.
(c) Write 5 486 in expanded notation, as shown in question 1(b).

You can calculate 3 758 + 5 486 as shown on the left below.

3 758 3 758
5 486 5 486
Step 1 8 000 You can do this in short, as shown on the 9 244
Step 2 1 100 right. This is a bit harder on the brain, but
Step 3 130 it saves paper!

Step 4 14
9 244

2. Explain how the numbers in each of Steps 1 to 4 are obtained.

It is only possible to use the shorter method if you add the units first, then add the tens,
then the hundreds and finally, the thousands. You can then do what you did in question
1(a), without writing the separate terms of the expanded form.
3. Calculate each of the following:
(a) 3 878 + 3 784 (b) 298 + 8 594
(c) 10 921 + 2 472 (d) 1 298 + 18 782

4. A farmer buys a truck for R645 840, a tractor for R783 356, a plough for R83 999 and
a bakkie for R435 690.

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(a) Estimate to the nearest R100 000 how much these items will cost altogether.
(b) Use a calculator to calculate the total cost.

5. An investor makes R543 682 in one day on the stock market and then loses R264 359
on the same day.
(a) Estimate to the nearest R100 000 how much money she has made in total on
that day.
(b) Use a calculator to determine how much money she has made.

multiplying in columns

1. (a) Write 3 489 in expanded notation.

(b) Write an expression without brackets that is equivalent to
7 × (3 000 + 400 + 80 + 9).

7 × 3 489 may be calculated as shown on the left below.

3 489 A shorter method is shown on the right. 3 489

×7 ×7
Step 1 63 24 423
Step 2 560
Step 3 2 800
Step 4 21 000
24 423

2. Explain how the numbers in each of Steps 1 to 4 on the above left are obtained.

47 × 3 489 may be calculated as shown on the left below.

3 489 A shorter method is shown on the right. 3 489

×      47 ×     47
Step 1 63 24 423
Step 2 560 139 560
Step 3 2 800 163 983
Step 4 21 000
Step 5 360
Step 6 3 200
Step 7 16 000
Step 8 120 000
163 983

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 3. Explain how the numbers in each of Steps 5 to 8 on the left on page 7 are obtained.
4. Explain how the number 139 560 that appears in the shorter form on the right on
page 7 is obtained.

subtracting in columns
1. Write each of the following as a single number:
(a) 8 000 + 400 + 30 + 2
(b) 7 000 + 1 300 + 120 + 12
(c) 3 000 + 900 + 50 + 7

2. If you worked correctly you should have obtained the same answers for questions
1(a) and 1(b). If this was not the case, redo your work.

The expression 7 000 + 1 300 + 120 + 12 was formed from 8 000 + 400 + 30 + 2 by:
• taking 1 000 away from 8 000 and adding it to the hundreds term to get 1 400
• taking 100 away from 1 400 and adding it to the tens term to get 130
• taking 10 away from 130 and adding it to the units term to get 12.

3. Form an expression like the expression in question 1(b) for each of the following:
(a) 8 000 + 200 + 100 + 4 (b) 3 000 + 400 + 30 + 1
4. Write expressions like in question 1(b) for the following numbers:
(a) 7 214 (b) 8 103

8 432 − 3 957 can be calculated as shown below:

8 432 To do the subtraction in each column, you need to think of
− 3 957 8 432 as 8 000 + 400 + 30 + 2; in fact, you have to think of it as
Step 1 5 7 000 + 1 300 + 120 + 12.
Step 2 70 In Step 1, the 7 of 3 957 is subtracted from 12.
Step 3 400
Step 4 4 000
Step 5 4 475

5. (a) How is the 70 in Step 2 obtained?

(b) How is the 400 in Step 3 obtained?
(c) How is the 4 000 in Step 4 obtained?
(d) How is the 4 475 in Step 5 obtained?

Because of the zeros obtained in Steps 2, 3 and 4, the answers 8 432

need not be written separately as shown above. The work can − 3 957
actually be shown in the short way on the right. 4 475

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6. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 9 123 − 3 784 (b) 8 284 − 3 547

7. Use a calculator only to check your answers. If your answers are wrong, try again.

8. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 7 243 − 3 182 (b) 6 221 − 1 888

You may use a calculator to do the questions below.

9. Bettina has R87 456 in her savings account. She withdraws R44 800 to buy a car.
How much money is left in her savings account?

10. Liesbet starts a savings account by making a deposit of R40 000. Over a period of
time she does the following transactions on the savings account:

• a withdrawal of R4 000
• a withdrawal of R2 780
• a deposit of R1 200
• a deposit of R7 550
• a withdrawal of R5 230
• a deposit of R8 990
• a deposit of R1 234

How much money does she have in her savings account now?

11. (a) R34 537 – R13 267 (b) R135 349 – R78 239

long division

Study this method for calculating 13 254 ÷ 56:

13 254
200 × 56 = 11 200 11 200 (200 is a rough estimate of the answer for 13 254 ÷ 56)
2 054 (2 054 remains after 11 200 is taken from 13 254)
30 × 56 = 1 680 1 680 (30 is a rough estimate of the answer for 2 054 ÷ 56)
374 (374 remains after 1 680 is taken from 2 054)
6 × 56 = 336 336 (6 is an estimate of the answer for 374 ÷ 56)
236 × 56 = 13 216 38 (38 remains)

38 19
So, 13 254 ÷ 56 = 236 remainder 38, or 13 254 ÷ 56 = 236 = 236 ,
56 28
which can also be written as 236,68 (correct to two decimal figures).

CHAPTER 1: WHOLE NUMBERS 9

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 The work can also be set out as follows:
6
30
200 236
56 13 254 or more briefly as 56 13 254
11 200 11 200
2 054 2 054
1 680 1 680
374 374
336 336
38 38

1. (a) Mlungisi’s work to do a certain calculation 463

is shown on the right. What is the question 78 36 177
that Mlungisi tries to answer? Step 1 31 200
(b) Where does the number 31 200 in Step 1 Step 2 4 977
come from? How did Mlungisi obtain it, and Step 3 4 680
for what purpose did he calculate it? Step 4 297
(c) Explain Step 2 in the same way as you
Step 5 234
explained Step 1.
63
(d) Explain Step 3.

2. Calculate each of the following without using a calculator:

(a) 33 030 ÷ 63 (b) 18 450 ÷ 27

3. Use a calculator to check your answers to question 2. If your answers are wrong, try
again. It is important that you learn to do long division correctly.

4. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 76 287 ÷ 287 (b) 65 309 ÷ 44

Use your calculator to do questions 5 and 6 below.

5. A municipality has budgeted R85 000 for putting up new street name boards. The
street name boards cost R72 each. How many new street name boards can be put up,
and how much money will be left in the budget?

6. A furniture dealer quoted R840 000 for supplying 3 450 school desks. A school supply
company quoted R760 000 for supplying 2 250 of the same desks. Which provider is
cheapest, and what do the two providers actually charge for one school desk?

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1.3 Multiples and factors

lowest common multiples and prime factorisation
1. Consecutive multiples of 6, starting at 6 itself, are shown in the following table:

6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60
66 72 78 84 90 96 102 108 114 120
126 132 138 144 150 156 162 168 174 180
186 192 198 204 210 216 222 228 234 240

(a) The following table also shows multiples of a number. What is the number?

15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150

165 180 195 210 225 240 255 270 285 300
315 330 345 360 375 390 405 420 435 450
465 480 495 510 525 540 555 570 585 600

(b) Copy both tables. Draw rough circles around all the numbers that occur in
both tables.
(c) What is the smallest number that occurs in both tables?

90 is a multiple of 6; it is also a multiple of 15.

90 is called a common multiple of 6 and 15; it is a
multiple of both.
The smallest number that is a multiple of both 6 and
15 is the number 30.
30 is called the lowest common multiple or LCM
of 6 and 15.

2. Calculate, without using a calculator:

(a) 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 × 11 (b) 2 × 2 × 5 × 7 × 13
(c) 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 13 (d) 3 × 5 × 5 ×17

Check your answers by using a calculator or by comparing with some classmates.

The number 2 is a factor of each of the numbers 2 310, 1 820 and 3 510.
Another way of saying this is: 2 is a common factor of 2 310, 1 820 and 3 510.
3. (a) Is 2 × 3, in other words, 6, a common factor of 2 310 and 3 510?
(b) Is 2 × 3 × 5, in other words, 30, a common factor of 2 310 and 3 510?
(c) Is there any bigger number than 30 that is a common factor of 2 310 and 3 510?

30 is called the highest common factor or HCF of 2 310 and 3 510.

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 In question 2 you can see the list of prime factors of the numbers 2 310, 1 820, 3 510
and 1 275.

The LCM of two numbers can be found by

multiplying all the prime factors of both numbers,
without repeating (except where a number is
repeated as a factor in one of the numbers).
The HCF of two numbers can be found by
multiplying the factors that are common to the
two numbers, i.e. in the list of prime factors of
both numbers.

4. In each case, find the HCF and LCM of the numbers:

(a) 1 820 and 3 510 (b) 2 310 and 1 275
(c) 1 820 and 3 510 and 1 275 (d) 2 310 and 1 275 and 1 820
(e) 780 and 7 700 (f) 360 and 1 360

1.4 Solving problems about ratio, rate and proportion

ratio and rate problems

You may use a calculator in this section.

1. Moeneba collects apples in the orchard. She picks about five apples each minute.
Approximately how many apples will Moeneba pick in each of the following
periods of time?
(a) eight minutes (b) 11 minutes
(c) 15 minutes (d) 20 minutes

In the situation described in question 1, Moeneba picks apples at a rate of about five
apples per minute.

2. Garth and Kate also collect apples in the orchard, but they both work faster than
Moeneba. Garth collects at a rate of about 12 apples per minute, and Kate collects at
a rate of about 15 apples per minute. Copy and complete the following table to show
approximately how many apples they will each collect in different periods of time:

Period of time in min 1 2 3 8 10 20

Moeneba 5 40
Garth 12
Kate 15
The three together 32

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In this situation, the number of apples picked is directly proportional to the time
taken.
If you filled the table in correctly, you will notice that during any period of time, Kate
collected three times as many apples as Moeneba. We can say that during any time
interval, the ratio between the numbers of apples collected by Moeneba and Kate is
3 to 1, which can be written as 3 : 1. For any period of time, the ratio between the
numbers of apples collected by Garth and Moeneba is 12 : 5.

3. (a) What is the ratio between the numbers of apples collected by Kate and Garth
during a period of time?
(b) Would it be correct to also say that the ratio between the numbers of apples
collected by Kate and Garth is 5 : 4? Explain your answer.
4. To make biscuits of a certain kind, five parts of flour are to be mixed with two parts
of oatmeal, and one part of cocoa powder. How much oatmeal and how much cocoa
powder must be used if 500 g of flour is used?

5. A motorist covers a distance of 360 km in exactly four hours.

(a) Approximately how far did the motorist drive in one hour?
(b) Do you think the motorist covered exactly 90 km in each of the four hours?
Explain your answer briefly.
(c) Approximately how far will the motorist drive in seven hours?
(d) Approximately how long will the motorist need to travel 900 km?

Some people use these formulae to do calculations like those in question 5:

distance
average speed = , which means distance ÷ time
time
distance = average speed × time
distance
time = , which means distance ÷ average speed
average speed

6. For each of questions 5(c) and 5(d), state which formula will produce the correct answer.

7. A motorist completes a journey in three sections, making two long stops to eat and
relax between sections. During section A he covers 440 km in four hours. During
section B he covers 540 km in six hours. During section C he covers 280 km in four hours.
(a) Calculate his average speed over each of the three sections.
(b) Calculate his average speed for the journey as a whole.
(c) On the next day, the motorist has to travel 874 km. How much time (stops
excluded) will he need to do this? Justify your answer with calculations.
8. Different vehicles travel at different average speeds. A large transport truck with a
heavy load travels much slower than a passenger car. A small bakkie is also slower
than a passenger car. In the table on the following page, some average speeds and the

CHAPTER 1: WHOLE NUMBERS 13

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 times needed are given for different vehicles that all have to be driven for the same
distance of 720 km. Copy and complete the table:

Time in hours 12 9 8 6 5
Average speed in km/h 60

9. Look at the table you have just completed.

(a) What happens to the time needed if the average speed increases?
(b) What happens to the average speed if the time is reduced?
(c) What can you say about the product average speed × time, for the numbers in
the table?

In the situation above, the average speed is said to be indirectly proportional to the
time needed for the journey.

1.5 Solving problems in financial contexts

You may use a calculator in this section.

discount, PROFIT AND LOSS

1. (a) R12 800 is divided equally between 100 people.

How much money does each person get?
(b) How much money do eight of the people together get?

Another word for hundredths is per cent.

5
Instead of we can write 5%. The symbol % means exactly the same as .
100 100
1
In question 1(a) you calculated or 1% of R12 800, and in question 1(b) you
100
8
calculated or 8% of R12 800.
100
The amount that a dealer pays for an article is called
the cost price. The price marked on the article is
called the marked price and the price of the article
after the discount is the selling price.

2. The marked prices of some articles are given below. A discount of 15% is offered to
customers who pay cash. In each case, calculate how much a customer who pays
cash will actually pay:
(a) R850 (b) R140
(c) R32 600 (d) R138
Lina bought a couch at a sale. It was marked R3 500 but she paid only R2 800.

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She was given a discount of R700.

What percentage discount was given to Lina?
This question means:
How many hundredths of the marked price were taken off?
1
To answer the question we need to know how much (one hundredth) of the marked
100
price is.
1
3. (a) How much is of R3 500?
100
(b) How many hundredths of R3 500 is the same as R700?
(c) What percentage discount was given to Lisa: 10% or 20%?
4. The cost price, marked price and selling price of some articles are listed below:
Article A: Cost price = R240; marked price = R360; selling price = R324.
Article B: Cost price = R540; marked price = R700; selling price = R560.
Article C: Cost price = R1 200; marked price = R2 000; selling price = R1 700.
The profit is the difference between the cost price and the selling price.
For each of the above articles, calculate the percentage discount and profit.

5. Remey decided to work from home and bought herself a sewing machine for R750.
She planned to make 40 covers for scatter cushions. The fabric and other items she
needed cost her R3 600. Remey planned to sell the covers at R150 each.
(a) How much profit could Remey make if she sold all 40 covers at this price?
(b) Remey managed to sell only 25 of the covers and decided to sell the rest at R100
each. Calculate her percentage profit.

6. Zadie bakes and sells pies to earn some extra income. The cost of the ingredients for
one chicken pie comes to about R68. She sold the pies for R60 each. Did she make a
profit or a loss? Calculate the percentage loss or profit.

hire purchase

Sometimes you need an item but do not have enough money to pay the full amount
immediately. One option is to buy the item on hire purchase (HP). You will have
to pay a deposit and sign an agreement in which you undertake to pay monthly
instalments until you have paid the full amount. Therefore:
HP price = deposit + total of instalments
The difference between the HP price and the cash price is the interest that the dealer
charges you for allowing you to pay off the item over a period of time.

1. Sara buys a flat screen television on HP. The cash price is R4 199. She has to pay a
deposit of R950 and 12 monthly instalments of R360.

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 (a) Calculate the total HP price.
(b) How much interest does she pay?
2. Susie buys a car on HP. The car costs R130 000. She pays a 10% deposit on the cash
price and will have to pay monthly instalments of R4 600 for a period of three years.
David buys the same car, but chooses another option where he has to pay a 35%
deposit on the cash price and monthly instalments of R3 950 for two years.
(a) Calculate the HP price for both options.
(b) Calculate the difference between the total price paid by Susie and by David.
(c) Calculate the interest that Susie and David have to pay as a percentage of the
cash price.

simple interest

When interest is calculated for a number of years on an amount (i.e. a fixed deposit),
without the interest being added to the amount each year for the purpose of later
interest calculations, it is referred to as simple interest. If the amount is invested for
part of a year, the time must be written as a fraction of a year.

Example:
R2 000 invested at 10% per annum simple interest over 2 years:
End of first year: Amount = R2 000 + R200 interest of original amount = R2 200
End of second year: Amount = R2 200 + R200 interest of original amount = R2 400

1. Interest rates are normally expressed as percentages. This makes it easier to compare
rates. Express each of the following as a percentage:
(a) A rate of R5 for every R100
(b) A rate of R7,50 for every R50
(c) A rate of R20 for every R200
(d) A rate of x rands for every a rands
2. Annie deposits R8 345 into a savings account at Bonus Per annum means “per year”.
Bank. The interest rate is 9% per annum.
(a) How much interest will she have earned at the end of the first year?
(b) Annie decides to leave the deposit of R8 345 with the bank for an indefinite
period, and to withdraw only the interest at the end of every year. How much
interest does she receive over a period of five years?
3. Maxi invested R3 500 at an interest rate of 5% per annum. Her total interest was R875.
For what period did she invest the amount?
4. Money is invested for one year at an interest rate of 8% per annum. Copy and
complete the table of equivalent rates:

Sum invested (R) 1 000 2 500 8 000 20 000 90 000 x

Interest earned (R)

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5. Interest on overdue accounts is charged at a rate of 20% per annum. Calculate the
interest due on an account that is ten days overdue if the amount owing is R260.
(Give your answer to the nearest cent.)

6. A sum of money invested in the bank at 5% per annum, i.e. simple interest,
amounted to R6 250 after five years. This final amount includes the interest. Thuli
figured out that the final amount is (1 + 0,05 × 5 ) × amount invested.
(a) Explain Thuli’s thinking.
(b) Calculate the amount that was invested.

COMPOUND INTEREST

When the interest earned each year is added to the original amount, and the interest for
the following year is calculated on this new amount, the result is known as compound
interest.

Example:
R2 000 is invested at 10% per annum compound interest:
End of first year: Amount = R2 000 + R200 interest = R2 200
End of second year: Amount = R2 200 + R220 interest = R2 420
End of third year: Amount = R2 420 + R242 interest = R2 662

1. An amount of R20 000 is invested at 5% per annum compound interest.

(a) What is the total value of the investment after one year?
(b) What is the total value of the investment after two years?
(c) What is the total value of the investment after three years?
2. Bonus Bank is offering an investment scheme over two years at a compound interest
rate of 15% per annum. Mr Pillay wishes to invest R800 in this way.
(a) How much money will be due to him at the end of the two-year period?
(b) How much interest will have been earned during the two years?

3. Andrew and Zinzi are arguing about interest on money that they have been given
for Christmas. They each received R750. Andrew wants to invest his money in ABC
Building Society for two years at a compound interest rate of 14% per annum, while
Zinzi claims that she will do better at Bonus Bank, earning 15% simple interest per
annum over two years. Who is correct?

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 4. Mr Martin invests an amount (P) of R12 750 at 5,3% (r) compound interest over
r n
a period (n) of four years. Use the formula: A = P(1 + ) and calculate the final
100
amount (A) that his investment will be worth after four years.
(a) How many conversion periods will his investment have altogether?
(b) How much is his investment worth after four years?
(c) Calculate the total interest that he earns on his initial investment.
5. Calculate the interest generated by an investment (P) of R5 000 at 10% (r) compound
interest over a period (n) of three years. A is the final amount. Use the formula:
r n
A = P(1 + ) to calculate the interest.
100

exchange rate and commission

1. (a) Tim bought 650 at the foreign exchange desk at Gatwick Airport in the UK at
a rate of R15,66 per 1. The desk also charged 2,5% commission on the
transaction. How much did Tim spend to buy the pounds?
(b) What was the value of R1 in British pounds on that day?
2. Mandy wants to order a book from the internet. The price of the book is $25,86.
What is the price of the book in rands? Say, for example, that the exchange rate is
R9,95 for $1.
3. Bongani is a car salesperson. He earns a commission of 3% on the sale of a car with
the value of R220 000. Calculate how much commission he earned.

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Chapter 2
Integers

2.1 Which numbers are smaller than 0?

why people decided to have negative numbers

Numbers such as −7 and −500, the additive inverses of

whole numbers, are included with all the whole
numbers and are called integers.
3
Fractions can be negative too, for example: − and −3,46.
4

Natural numbers are used for counting and fractions (rational numbers) are used for
measuring. Why do we also have negative numbers?
When a larger number is subtracted from a smaller number, the answer may be a
negative number: 5 − 12 = −7. This number is called negative 7.
One of the most important reasons for inventing negative numbers was to provide
solutions for equations like the following:

Equation Solution Required property of negative numbers

17 + x = 10 x = −7 because 1. Adding a negative number is just like
17 + (−7) = 17 − 7 subtracting the corresponding positive
= 10 number
5−x=9 x = −4 because 2. Subtracting a negative number is just like
5 − (−4) = 5 + 4 = 9 adding the corresponding positive number
20 + 3x = 5 x = −5 because 3. The product of a positive number and a
3 × (−5) = −15 negative number is a negative number

properties of integers

1. In each case, state what number will make the equation true. Also state which of the
properties of integers in the table above, is demonstrated by the equation:
(a) 20 − x = 50 (b) 50 + x = 20
(c) 20 − 3x = 50 (d) 50 + 3x = 20

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 2.2 Adding and subtracting with integers

Addition and subtraction of negative numbers

Examples: (−5) + (−3) and (−20) − (−7)
(–5) + (–3) can also be written
This is done in the same way as the addition and as –5 + (–3) or as –5 + –3
subtraction of positive numbers.
(−5) + (−3) = −8 and −20 − (−7) = −13
This is just like 5 + 3 = 8 and 20 − 7 =13, or R5 + R3 = R8, and R20 − R7 = R13.

Subtraction of a larger number from a smaller number

Examples: 5 − 9 and 29 − 51
Let us first consider the following:
5 + (−5) = 0 10 + (−10) = 0 and    20 + (−20) = 0
If we subtract 5 from 5, we get 0, but then we still have to subtract 4:
5−9 =5−5−4 We know that −9 = (−4) + (–5)
= 0 − 4
= −4
Suppose the numbers are larger, for example 29 − 51:
29 − 51 = 29 − 29 − 22 −51 = (−29) + (−22)

How much will be left of the 51, after you have subtracted 29 from 29 to get 0?
How can we find out? Is it 51 − 29?

Addition of a positive and a negative number

Examples: 7 + (−5); 37 + (−45) and (−13) + 45
The following statement is true if the unknown number is 5:
20 − (a certain number) = 15
We also need numbers that will make sentences like the following true:
20 + (a certain number) = 15
But to go from 20 to 15 you have to subtract 5.
The number we need to make the sentence 20 + (a certain number) = 15 true, must have
the following strange property:
If you add this number, it should have the same effect as subtracting 5.
So, mathematicians agreed that the number called negative 5 will have the property that if you
add it to another number, the effect will be the same as subtracting the natural number 5.
This means that mathematicians agreed that 20 + (−5) is equal to 20 − 5.
In other words, instead of adding negative 5 to a number, you may subtract 5.

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Adding a negative number has the same effect as

subtracting a corresponding natural number.
For example: 20 + (−15) = 20 − 15 = 5.

Subtraction of a negative number

We have dealt with cases like −20 − (−7) on the previous page.
The following statement is true if the number is 5:
25 + (a certain number) = 30
We also need a number to make this statement true:
25 − (a certain number) = 30
If you subtract this number, it should have the same effect as adding 5.
It was agreed that: 25 − (−5) is equal to 25 + 5.
Instead of subtracting the negative number, you add the corresponding positive number
(the additive inverse):
8 − (−3) = 8 + 3
= 11
−5 − (−12) = −5 + 12
= 7

We may say that for each “positive” number there is

a corresponding or opposite negative number.
Two positive and negative numbers that correspond,
for example 3 and (−3), are called additive inverses.

Subtraction of a positive number from a negative number

For example: −7 − 4 actually means (−7) − 4.

Instead of subtracting a positive number, you add the corresponding negative number.

For example: −7 − 4 can be seen as (−7) + (−4) = −11.

calculations with integers

Calculate each of the following:
1. −7 + 18 2. 24 − 30 − 7

3. −15 + (−14) − 9 4. 35 − (−20)

5. 30 − 47 6. (−12) − (−17)

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 2.3 Multiplying and dividing with integers
multiplication with integers

1. Calculate each of the following:

(a) −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7 + −7
(b) −10 + −10 + −10 + −10 + −10 + −10 + −10
(c) 10 × (−7) (d) 7 × (−10)

2. Say whether you agree (✓) or (✗) disagree with each statement:
(a) 10 × (−7) = 70  (b) 9 × (−5) = (−9) × 5
(c) (−7) × 10 = 7 × (−10)  (d) 9 × (−5) = −45
(e) (−7) × 10 = 10 × (−7)  (f) 5 × (−9) = 45

Multiplication of integers is commutative:

(−20) × 5 = 5 × (−20)

the distributive property

1. Calculate each of the following. Note that brackets are used for two purposes in these
expressions, i.e. to indicate that certain operations are to be done first, and to show
the integers.
(a) 20 + (−5) (b) 4 × (20 + (−5)) (c) 4 × 20 + 4 × (−5)
(d) (−5) + (−20) (e) 4 × ((−5) + (−20)) (f) 4 × (−5) + 4 × (−20)

2. If you worked correctly, your answers for question 1 should be 15; 60; 60; −25; −100
and −100. If your answers are different, check to see where you went wrong and
correct your work.

3. Calculate each of the following where you can:

(a) 20 + (−15) (b) 4 × (20 + (−15)) (c) 4 × 20 + 4 × (−15)
(d) (−15) + (−20) (e) 4 × ((−15) + (−20)) (f) 4 × (−15) + 4 × (−20)
(g) 10 + (−5) (h) (−4) × (10 + (−5)) (i) (−4) × 10 + ((−4) × (−5))

4. What property of integers is demonstrated in your answers for questions 3(a) and (g)?
Explain your answer.

In question 3(i) you had to multiply two negative numbers. What was your guess?
We can calculate (−4) × (10 + (−5)) as in (h). It is (−4) × 5 = −20.
If we want the distributive property to be true for integers, then (−4) × 10 + (−4) × (−5)
must be equal to −20.
(−4) × 10 + (−4) × (−5) = −40 + (−4) × (−5)

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Then (−4) × (−5) must be equal to 20.

5. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 10 × 50 + 10 × (−30) (b) 50 + (−30)
(c) 10 × (50 + (−30)) (d) (−50) + (−30)
(e) 10 × (−50) + 10 × (−30) (f) 10 × ((−50) + (−30))

• The product of two positive numbers is a positive

number, for example: 5 × 6 = 30.
• The product of a positive number and a negative
number is a negative number, for example:
5 × (−6) = −30.
• The product of a negative number and a positive
number is a negative number, for example:
(−5) × 6 = −30.

6. (a) Write out only the numerical expressions below which you would expect to have
the same answers. Do not do the calculations.
16 × (53 + 68) 53 × (16 + 68) 16 × 53 + 16 × 68 16 × 53 + 68
(b) What property of operations is demonstrated by the fact that two of the above
   expressions have the same value?

7. Consider your answers for question 5.

(a) Does multiplication distribute over addition in the case of integers?
(b) Illustrate your answer with two examples.

8. Write out only the numerical expression below which you would expect to have the
same answers. Do not do the calculations now.
10 × ((−50) − (−30))    10 × (−50) − (−30)     10 × (−50) − 10 × (−30)

9. Do the three sets of calculations given in question 8.

10. Calculate (−10) × (5 + (−3)).

11. Now consider the question of whether or not multiplication by a negative number
distributes over addition and subtraction of integers. For example, would
(−10) × 5 + (−10) × (−3) also have the answer of −20, like (−10) × (5 + (−3))?

To make sure that multiplication distributes over addition and subtraction in the system
of integers, we have to agree that:
(a negative number) × (a negative number) is a positive number.
For example: (−10) × (−3) = 30.

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 12. Calculate each of the following:
(a) (−20) × (−6) (b) (−20) × 7
(c) (−30) × (−10) + (−30) × (−8) (d) (−30) × ((−10) + (−8))
(e) (−30) × (−10) − (−30) × (−8) (f) (−30) × ((−10) − (−8))

Here is a summary of the properties of integers that make it possible to do

calculations with integers:
• When a number is added to its additive inverse, the result is 0.
For example, (+12) + (−12) = 0.
• Adding an integer has the same effect as subtracting its additive inverse.
For example, 3 + (−10) can be calculated by doing 3 − 10, and the answer is −7.
• Subtracting an integer has the same effect as adding its additive inverse.
For example, 3 − (−10) can be calculated by calculating 3 + 10 is 13.
• The product of a positive and a negative integer is negative.
For example, (−15) × 6 = −90.
• The product of a negative and a negative integer is positive.
For example, (−15) × (−6) = 90.

division with integers

1. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 5 × (−7) (b) (−3) × 20
(c) (−5) × (−10) (d) (−3) × (−20)

2. Use your answers in question 1 to determine the following:

(a) (−35) ÷ 5 (b) (−35) ÷ (−7)
(c) (−60) ÷ 20 (d) (−60) ÷ (−3)
(e) 50 ÷ (−5) (f) 50 ÷ (−10)
(g) 60 ÷ (−20) (h) 60 ÷ (−3)

• The quotient of a positive number and a negative

number is a negative number.
• The quotient of two negative numbers is a positive
number.

mixed calculations with integers

1. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 20(−50 + 7) (b) 20 × (−50) + 20 × 7
(c) 20(−50 + −7) (d) 20 × (−50) + 20 × −7
(e) −20(−50 + −7) (f) −20 × −50 + −20 × −7

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2. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 40 × (−12 + 8) −10 × (2 + −8) − 3 × (−3 − 8)
(b) (9 + 10 − 9) × 40 + (25 − 30 − 5) × 7
(c) −50(40 − 25 + 20) + 30(−10 + 7 + 13) − 40(−16 + 15 − 2)
(d) −4 × (30 − 50) + 7 × (40 − 70) − 10 × (60 − 100)
(e) −3 × (−14 − 6 + 5) × (−13 − 7 + 10) × (20 − 10 − 15)

2.4 Powers, roots and word problems

Answer all questions in this section without using a calculator.
1. Copy and complete the following tables:

(a) x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
x2
x3

(b) x −1 −2 −3 −4 −5 −6 −7 −8 −9 −10 −11 −12

x2
x3

32 is 9 and (−3)2 is also 9.

The symbol means that
33 is 27 and (−5)3 is −125.
you must take the positive
Both (−3) and 3 are square roots of 9. square root of the number.
3 may be called the positive square root of 9, and
(−3) may be called the negative square root of 9.
3 is called the cube root of 27, because 33 = 27.
−5 is called the cube root of −125 because (−5)3 = −125.
102 is 100 and (−10)2 is also 100.
Both 10 and (−10) are called square roots of 100.

2. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 4 − 9 (b) 3
27 + (− 3 64 )
(c) −(32) (d) (−3)2
(e) 42 − 62 + 12 (f) 33 − 43 − 23 − 13
(g) 81 − 4 × 3 125 (h) −(42)(−1)2
( −5)2 − 36
(i) (j)
37 − 12 −13 − 23

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 3. Determine the answer to each of the following:
(a) The overnight temperature in Polokwane drops from 11 °C to −2 °C. By how
   many degrees has the temperature dropped?
(b) The temperature in Escourt drops from 2 °C to −1 °C in one hour, and then
   another two degrees in the next hour. How many degrees in total did the
   temperature drop over the two hours?
(c) A submarine is 75 m below the surface of the sea. It then rises by 21 m. How far
   below the surface is it now?
(d) A submarine is 37 m below the surface of the sea. It then sinks a further 15 m.
   How far below the surface is it now?

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Chapter 3
Fractions

3.1 Equivalent fractions

the same number in different forms

1. How much money is each of the following amounts?

1 2 4
(a) of R200 (b) of R200 (c) of R200
5 10 20
1 2 4
Did you notice that all the answers are the same? That is because , and are
5 10 20
equivalent fractions. They are different ways of writing the same number.
Consider this bar. It is divided into five equal parts.

Each piece is one fifth of the whole bar.

2. Now copy the bar and draw lines on the bar so that it is approximately divided
into ten equal parts.

(a) What part of the whole bar is each of your ten parts?
(b) How many tenths is the same as one fifth?
(c) How many tenths is the same as two fifths?
(d) How many fifths is the same as eight tenths?

3. Copy the bar below and draw lines on the bar below so that it is approximately
divided into 25 equal parts.

(a) How many twenty-fifths is the same as two fifths?

(b) How many fifths is the same as 20 twenty-fifths?
4 20
In question 3(b) you found that is equivalent to : these are just two different ways
5 25
to describe the same part of the bar.

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 4 20 4 20
This can be expressed by writing = which means that and are equivalent to
5 25 5 25
each other.

4. Write down all the other pairs of equivalent fractions which you found while doing
questions 2 and 3.

The yellow bar is divided into fifths.

5. (a) Into what kind of fraction parts is the blue bar divided?
(b) Into what kind of fraction parts is the red bar divided?
(c) If you want to mark the yellow bar in twentieths (like the blue bar), into how
many parts do you have to divide each of the fifths?
(d) If you want to mark the yellow bar in fortieths (like the red bar), into how many
parts do you have to divide each of the fifths?
(e) If you want to mark the yellow bar in eightieths, into how many parts do you
have to divide each of the fifths?
(f) If you want to mark the blue bar in eightieths, into how many parts do you have
to divide each of the twentieths?

6. Suppose this bar is divided into four equal parts, in other words, quarters.

(a) If the bar is also divided into 20 equal parts, how many of these smaller parts
will there be in each quarter?
(b) If each quarter is divided into six equal parts, what part of the whole bar will each
small part be?

7. Copy and complete this table of equivalent fractions, as far as you can using whole
numbers. All the fractions in each column must be equivalent.

sixteenths 8 4 2 10 14 12
eighths
quarters
twelfths
twentieths

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Equivalent fractions can be formed by multiplying the numerator and denominator by

1 4 ×1 4
the same number. For example: = =
5 4×5 20

3
8. Write down five different fractions that are equivalent to .
4
9. Express each of the following numbers as twelfths:
2 3 5 1
(a) (b) (c) (d)
3 4 6 6

You may divide the numerator and denominator

by the same number, instead of multiplying the
numerator and denominator by the same number.
This gives you a simpler fraction.
The simplest form of a fraction has no common
factors. For example, you find the simplest form of
4 1
the fraction is by dividing both the numerator
12 3
and denominator by the common factor of 4.

10. Convert each of the following fractions to their simplest form:

40 4
(a) (b)
100 16
5 6
(c) (d)
25 30
6 8
(e) (f)
24 88

Converting between mixed numbers and fractions

Numbers that have both whole number and fraction parts are called mixed numbers.
4 7 3
Examples of mixed numbers: 3 , 2 and 8
5 8 10

Mixed numbers can be written in expanded notation, for example:

4 4 7 7 3 3
3 means 3 +      2 means 2 +      8 means 8 + .
5 5 8 8 10 10

To add and subtract mixed numbers, you can work with the whole number parts and the
fraction parts separately, for example:
4 3 3 4
3 + 13 13 −3 (we need to “borrow” a unit from 13,
5 5 5 5
4 3
7 8 4 because we cannot subtract from )
= 16 = 12 − 3 5 5
5 5 5
2 4
= 17 =9
5 5

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 However, this method can be difficult to do with some examples, and it does not work
with multiplication and division.
An alternative and preferred method is to convert the mixed number to an improper
fraction, as shown in the example below:
4
3 NOTE
5
4 You can obtain the
=3+ numerator of 19 in one step
5
15 4
by multiplying the
= + denominator (5) by the
5 5
whole number (3), and then
19
= adding the numerator (4).
5
4 3
So, you can calculate 3 + 13 using this method:
5 5
4 3
3 + 13
5 5
19 68
= +
5 5
87
= The answer must be converted to a mixed
5 87 2
number again: = 17
5 5
1. Convert each of the following mixed numbers to improper fractions:
3 3 4 5
(a) 5 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4
5 8 7 12
2. Convert each of the following improper fractions to mixed numbers:
32 25 24 37
(a) (b) (c) (d)
5 8 9 20

3.2 Adding and subtracting fractions

To add or subtract two fractions, they have to be expressed with the same denominators
first. To achieve that, one or more of the given fractions may have to be replaced with
equivalent fractions.
3 2 We will refer to this 5 7 We will later refer to
+ +
20 5 as the LCM method. 12 20 this method of adding
3 2×4 5 × 20 7 × 12 or subtracting fractions
= + = +
20 5×4 12 × 20 20 × 12 as Method A.
3 8 100 84
= + = +
20 20 240 240
11 184
= =
20 240
23
=
30

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5 7
In the case of + , multiplying by 20 and by 12 was a sure way of making
12 20
equivalent fractions of the same kind, in this case two hundred-and-fortieths. However,
the numbers became quite big. Just imagine how big the numbers will become if you
17 13
use the same method to calculate + !
75 85
Fortunately, there is a method of keeping the numbers smaller (in many cases) when
making equivalent fractions, so that fractions can be added or subtracted. In this method
you first calculate the lowest common multiple or LCM of the denominators. In the
5 7
case of + , the smaller multiples of the denominators are:
12 20
12: 12 24 36 48 60 72 84
20: 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

The smallest number that is a multiple of both 12 and 20 is 60.

5 7
Both and can be expressed in terms of sixtieths:
12 20
5 5×5 25
= = because to make twelfths into sixtieths you have to divide each
12 12 × 5 60
twelfth into five equal parts, to get 12 × 5 = 60 equal parts, i.e. sixtieths.
7 7×3 21
Similarly, = = .
20 20 × 3 60
5 7 25 21 46 23
Hence + = + = =
12 20 60 60 60 30
We may call this method the LCM method of adding or subtracting fractions.

Adding and subtracting fractions

1. Which method of adding and subtracting fractions do you think will be the easiest
and quickest for you, Method A or the LCM method? Explain.

2. Calculate each of the following:

3 2 3 7
(a) + (b) +
8 5 10 8
2 3 3 11
(c) 3 +2 (d) 7 +3
5 10 8 12

3. Calculate each of the following:

13 2 7 1
(a) − (b) −
20 5 12 4
1 3 1 2
(c) 5 −3 (d) 4 −5
2 8 9 3
1
4. Paulo and Sergio buy a pizza. Paulo eats of the pizza and Sergio eats two fifths.
3
How much of the pizza is left over?

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 5. Calculate each of the following. State whether you use Method A or the LCM
method.
7 11 73 7
(a) + (b) −
15 24 100 75
3 13 9 3
(c) + (d) −
25 40 16 10
1 7 11 3
(e) + (f) −
18 20 35 14
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
(g) + + + + + + + + +
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

3.3 Multiplying and dividing fractions

think about multiplication and division with fractions
1. Read the questions below, but do not answer them now. Just describe in each case
what calculations you think must be done to find the answer to the question. You
can think later about how the calculations may be done.
5
(a) Ten people come to a party and each of them must get of a pizza. How many
8
pizzas must be bought to provide for all of them?
5
(b) of the cost of a new clinic must be carried by the ten doctors who will work
8
there. What part of the cost of the clinic must be carried by each of the doctors,
if they have agreed to share the cost equally?
5
(c) If a whole pizza costs R10, how much does of a pizza cost?
8
5
(d) The owner of a spaza shop has ten whole pizzas. How many portions of of a
8
pizza each can he make up from the ten pizzas?

2. Look at the different sets of calculations shown below.

(a) Which set of calculations is a correct way to find the answer for question 1(a)?
(b) Which set of calculations is a correct way to find the answer for question 1(b)?
(c) Which set of calculations is a correct way to find the answer for question 1(c)?
(d) Which set of calculations is a correct way to find the answer for question 1(d)?
10 5 50 5 50 5
Set A: × =   Set B: = . 50 eightieths ÷ 10 =
10 8 80 8 80 80

Set C: How many eighths in ten wholes? 80 eighths. How many five-eighths in 80?
80 ÷ 5 = 16

5 50 5 5 10 50
Set D: is five eighths. 10 × five eighths = Set E: ÷ 10 = × =
8 8 8 8 1 8

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Multiply a fraction by a whole number

Example:
3 24 4
8× = 8 × 3 fifths = 24 fifths = =4
5 5 5

Divide a fraction by a whole number

You can divide a fraction by converting it to an equivalent fraction with a numerator
that is a multiple of the divisor.

Example:
2 10 2
÷5= ÷ 5 = 10 fifteenths ÷ 5 = 2 fifteenths =
3 15 15

A fraction of a whole number, and a fraction of a fraction

Examples:
7
A of R36.
12
1 7
of R36 is the same as R36 ÷ 12 = R3, so of R36 is 7 × R3 = R21.
12 12
7
B of 36 fiftieths.
12
1
of 36 fiftieths is the same as 36 fiftieths ÷ 12 = 3 fiftieths,
12
7
so of 36 fiftieths is 7 × 3 fiftieths = 21 fiftieths.
12
7 36 7 36
× means of , it is the same.
12 50 12 50
1 36 36 3 7 36 3 21
of is the same as ÷ 12 = , so of is 7 × = .
12 50 50 50 12 50 50 50
7 36
3. (a) You calculated × in the example above. What was the answer?
12 50
7 × 36
(b) Calculate , and simplify your answer.
12 × 50
Example:
2 5 2 15 1 30 10 5
× = of = of = =
3 8 3 24 3 24 24 12
2×5
The same answer is obtained by calculating .
3×8
To multiply two fractions, you may simply multiply the numerators and the
denominators.
2 9 2×9 18 3
× = = =
3 20 3 × 20 60 10

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 Division by a fraction
When we divide by a fraction, we have a very different situation. Think about this:
3
If you have 40 pizzas, how many learners can have a pizza each?
5
To find the number of fifths in 40 pizzas: 40 × 5 = 200 fifths of a pizza.
3
To find the number of three fifths: 200 ÷ 3 = 66 portions of pizza and two fifths of a
5
pizza is left over.
Since the portion for each learner is three fifths, the two fifths of a pizza that remains
is two thirds of a portion.
3
So, to calculate 40 ÷ , we multiplied by 5 and divided by 3, and that gave us 66 and
5
two thirds of a portion.
5
In fact, we calculated 40 × .
3

Division is the inverse of multiplication.

So, to divide by a fraction, you multiply by its inverse.

Example:
18 2 18 3 54 9
÷ = × = =
60 3 60 2 120 20

Multiplying and dividing fractions

1. Calculate each of the following:

3 12 3 12
(a) of (b) ×
4 25 4 100
3 13 3 1
(c) of (d) ×1
4 25 4 2
3 5 3 3
(e) × (f) of
20 6 20 20
3
2. A small factory manufactures copper pans for cooking. Exactly kg of copper is
50
needed to make one pan.
18
(a) How many pans can they make if kg of copper is available?
50
20
(b) How many pans can they make if kg of copper is available?
50
2
(c) How many pans can they make if kg of copper is available?
5
3
(d) How many pans can they make if kg of copper is available?
4

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144
(e) How many pans can be made if kg of copper is available?
50

(f) How many pans can be made if 5 kg of copper is available?

3. Calculate each of the following:

18 3 9 3
(a) ÷ (b) ÷
50 50 25 50

144 3 44 3
(c) ÷ (d) 2 ÷
50 50 50 50

22 3 5 3
(e) 2 ÷ (f) ÷
25 50 8 50

3 3
(g) 20 ÷ (h) 2 ÷
50 50

3 1 3
(i) 1 ÷ (j) ÷
50 2 50
5 3
4. A rectangle is 3 cm long and 2 cm wide.
8 5
(a) What is the area of this rectangle?
(b) What is the perimeter of this rectangle?
5 1
5. A rectangle is 5 cm long and its area is 8 cm2.
6 6
How wide is this rectangle?

6. Calculate each of the following:

3 4 2 7
(a) 2 of 5 (b) 3 ×2
8 5 7 12

2 3 3 3
(c) 8 ÷3 (d) 3 ×3
5 10 10 10

5 7 3 2 3
(e) 2 ÷5 (f) ×1 ×1
8 10 5 3 4

7. Calculate each of the following:

2 3 7 2 3 2 7
(a) ( + ) (b) × + ×
3 4 10 3 4 3 10

5 4 1 5 4 5 1
(c) ( − ) (d) × − ×
8 5 3 8 5 8 3

8. A piece of land with an area of 40 ha is divided into 30 equal plots. The total price of
the land is R45 000. Remember that “ha” is the abbreviation for hectares.
2
(a) Jim buys of the land.
5

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 (i) How many plots is this and how much should he pay?
(ii) What is the area of the land that Jim buys?
1
(b) Charlene buys of the land. How many plots is this and how much should
3
she pay?
(c) Bongani buys the rest of the land. Determine the fraction of the land that
he buys.

squares, cubes, square roots and cube roots

1. Calculate each of the following:

3 3 7 7
(a) × (b) ×
4 4 10 10

5 5 5 5
(c) 2 ×2 (d) 1 ×1
8 8 12 12

5 5 3 3
(e) 3 ×3 (f) 10 × 10
7 7 4 4

9 3 3 3 9 3 9
is the square of , because × = . is the square root of .
16 4 4 4 16 4 16

2. Find the square root of each of the following numbers:

25 36
(a) (b)
49 121

64 46
(c) (d) 2
25 49

3. Calculate each of the following:

3 3 3 7 7 7
(a) × × (b) × ×
4 4 4 10 10 10

9 9 9 5 5 5
(c) × × (d) × ×
10 10 10 8 8 8

4. Find the cube root of each of the following numbers:

27 125
(a) 3 (b) 3
1 000 216

1 000 5
(c) 3 (d) 3 15
216 8

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3.4 Equivalent forms

Fractions, decimals and percentage forms
1. The rectangle on the right is divided into small parts.

(a) How many of these small parts are there in the rectangle?
(b) How many of these small parts are there in one tenth of the
rectangle?
(c) What fraction of the rectangle is blue?
(d) What fraction of the rectangle is pink?

Instead of “six hundredths” we may say “6 per cent”

or, in short, “6%”. It means the same thing.

15 per cent of the rectangle on the right is blue.

2. (a) What percentage of the rectangle is green?

(b) What percentage of the rectangle is pink?

37
0,37 and 37% and are different ways of writing
100
the same value (37 hundredths).

3. Express each of the following in three ways, namely as a decimal,

a percentage and a fraction (in simplest form):
(a) three tenths (b) seven hundredths
(c) 37 hundredths (d) seven tenths
(e) two fifths (f) seven twentieths

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 4. Copy the table and fill in the missing values.

Decimal Percentage Common fraction

(simplest form)

0,2

40%

3
8

0,05

5. (a) Jannie eats a quarter of a watermelon. What percentage of the watermelon

is this?
(b) Sibu drinks 75% of the milk in a bottle. What fraction of the milk in the bottle
has he drunk?
(c) Jem used 0,18 of the paint in a tin. If he uses half of the remaining amount the
next time he paints, what fraction (in simplest form) is left over?

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Chapter 4
The decimal notation
for fractions
4.1 Equivalent forms
Decimal fractions and common fractions are simply different ways of expressing the
same number. They are different notations showing the same value.

To write a decimal fraction as a common Notation means a set of

fraction: Write the decimal with a denominator symbols that are used to
that is a power of ten (10, 100, 1 000, etc.) and then show a special thing.
simplify it if possible.
35 7 5 7
For example: 0,35 = = × =
100 20 5 20
To write a common fraction as a decimal
fraction: Change the common fraction to
an equivalent fraction with a power of ten as a
denominator.
3 3 25 75
For example: = × = = 0,75
4 4 25 100
If you are permitted to use your calculator, simply
type in 3 ÷ 4 and the answer will be given as 0,75. On
some calculators you will need to press an additional
button to convert the exact fraction to a decimal.

Common fractions, decimal fractions and percentages

Do not use a calculator in this exercise.

1. Write the following decimal fractions as common fractions in their simplest form:

(a) 0,56 (b) 3,87

(c) 1,9 (d) 5,205

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 2. Write the following common fractions as decimal fractions:
9 7
(a) (b)
20 5
24 3
(c) (d) 2
25 8

3. Write the following percentages as common fractions in their simplest form:

(a) 70% (b) 5% (c) 12,5%

4. Write the following decimal fractions as percentages:

(a) 0,6 (b) 0,43 (c) 0,08
(d) 0,265 (e) 0,005

5. Write the following common fractions as percentages:

7 3 33
(a) (b) (c)
10 4 50
60 2 29
(d) (e) (f)
60 25 50

6. Jane and Devi are in different schools. At Jane’s school the year mark for Mathematics
was out of 80, and Jane got 60 out of 80. At Devi’s school the year mark was out of 50
and Devi got 40 out of 50.
(a) What fraction of the total marks, in its simplest form, did Devi obtain at her
school?
(b) What percentage did Devi and Jane get for Mathematics?
(c) Who performed better, Jane or Devi?

7. During a basketball game, Lebo tried to score 12 times. Only four of her attempts
were successful.
(a) What fraction of her attempts was successful?
(b) What percentage of her attempts was not successful?

4.2 Calculations with decimals

When you add and subtract decimal fractions:
• Add tenths to tenths.
• Subtract tenths from tenths.
• Add hundredths to hundredths.
• Subtract hundreds from hundredths.
And so on!

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When you multiply decimal fractions, you change

the decimals to whole numbers, do the calculation
and lastly, change them back to decimal fractions.
Example: To calculate 13,1 × 1,01, you first calculate
131 × 101 (which equals 13 231). Then, since you
have multiplied the 13,1 by 10, and the 1,01 by 100 in
order to turn them into whole numbers, you need to
divide this answer by 10 × 100 (i.e. 1 000). Therefore,
the final answer is 13,231.

When you divide decimal fractions, you can use

equivalent fractions to help you.
21,7 21,7 10 217
Example: 21,7 ÷ 0,7 = = × = = 31
0,7 0,7 10 7
Notice how you multiply both the numerator and
denominator of the fraction by the same number
(in this case, 10). Always multiply by the smallest power
of ten that will convert both values to whole numbers.

CALCULATIONS WITH DECIMALS

Do not use a calculator in this exercise. Ensure that you show all steps of your working.

1. Calculate the value of each of the following:

(a) 3,3 + 4,83 (b) 0,6 + 18,3 + 4,4
(c) 9,3 + 7,6 – 1,23 (d) (16,0 – 7,6) – 0,6
(e) 9,43 – (3,61 + 1,14) (f) 1,21 + 2,5 – (2,3 – 0,23)

2. Calculate the value of each of the following:

(a) 4 × 0,5 (b) 15 × 0,02 (c) 0,8 × 0,04
(d) 0,02 × 0,15 (e) 1,07 × 0,2 (f) 0,016 × 0,02

3. Calculate the value of each of the following:

(a) 7,2 ÷ 3 (b) 12 ÷ 0,3 (c) 0,15 ÷ 0,5
(d) 10 ÷ 0,002 (e) 0,3 ÷ 0,006 (f) 0,024 ÷ 0,08

4. Write down the value that is equal to or closest to the answer to each calculation:
(a) 3 × 0,5 (b) 4,4 ÷ 0,2
A: 6 A: 8,8
B: 1,5 B: 2,2
C: 0,15 C: 22

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 (c) 56 × 1,675
A: more than 56
B: more than 84
C: more than 112

5. Copy the diagram. Determine the operator and the unknown numbers and
fill them in:
3,5 4,14

4,2 4,84

5,4 6,04

10,2

15

6. Calculate each of the following:

(a) (0,1)2 (b) (0,03)2 (c) (2,5)2
(d) 0, 04 (e) 0,16 (f) 0, 49
(g) (0,2)3 (h) (0,4)3 (i) (0,03)3
(j) 3
0, 064 (k) 3
0,125 (l) 3
0, 216

7. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 2,5 × 2 ÷ 10 (b) 4,2 – 5 × 1,2
5, 4 + 7, 35
(c) (d) 4,2 ÷ 0,21 + 0,45 × 0,3
0, 05

4.3 Solving problems

All kinds of problems

Do not use a calculator in this exercise. Ensure that you show all steps of working.

1. Is 6,54 × 0,81 = 0,654 × 8,1? Explain your answer.

2. You are given that 45 × 24 = 1 080. Use this result to determine:

(a) 4,5 × 2,4 (b) 4,5 × 24 (c) 4,5 × 0,24
(d) 0,045 × 24 (e) 0,045 × 0,024 (f) 0,045 × 24

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3. Without actually dividing, choose which answer in brackets is the correct answer,
or the closest to the correct answer.
(a) 14 ÷ 0,5 (7; 28; 70) (b) 0,58 ÷ 0,7 (8; 80; 0,8)
(c) 2,1 ÷ 0,023 (10; 100; 5)

4. (a) John is asked to calculate 6,5 ÷ 0,02. He does the following:

Step 1: 6,5 ÷ 2= 3,25
Step 2: 3,25 × 100 = 325
Is he correct? Why?
(b) Use John’s method in part (a) to calculate:
(i) 4,8 ÷ 0,3 (ii) 21 ÷ 0,003

5. Given: 0,174 ÷ 0,3 = 0,58. Using this fact, write down the answers for the following
without doing any further calculations:

(a) 0,3 × 0,58 (b) 1,74 ÷ 3

(c) 17,4 ÷ 30 (d) 174 ÷ 300
(e) 0,0174 ÷ 0,03 (f) 0,3 × 5,8

4.4 More problems

More problems and calculations

You may use a calculator for this exercise.

1. Calculate the following, rounding off all answers correct to two decimal places:

(a) 8,567 + 3,0456 (b) 2,781 − 6,0049

5, 678 � 3, 245
(c) 1,234 × 4,056 (d)
1, 294 � 0, 994

2. What is the difference between 0,890 and 0,581?

3. If a rectangle is 12,34 cm wide and 31,67 cm long:

(a) What is the perimeter of the rectangle?
(b) What is the area of the rectangle? Round off your answer to two decimal places.

4. Alison buys a cooldrink for R5,95, a chocolate for R3,25 and a packet of chips for
R4,60. She pays with a R20 note.
(a) How much did she spend?
(b) How much change did she get?

5. A tractor uses 11,25 ℓ of fuel in 0,75 hours. How many litres does it use in one hour?

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 6. Mrs Ruka received her municipal bill.
(a) Her water consumption charge for one month is R32,65. The first 5,326 kℓ are
free, then she pays R5,83 per kilolitre for every kilolitre thereafter.
How much water did the Ruka household use?
(b) The electricity charge for Mrs Ruka for the same month was R417,59. The first
10 kWh are free. For the next 100 kWh the charge is R1,13 per kWh, and
thereafter for each kWh the charge is R1,42.
How much electricity did the Ruka household use?
7. A roll of material is 25 m long. To make one dress, you need 1,35 m of material.
How many dresses can be made out of a roll of material and how much material is
left over?

8. If one litre of petrol weighs 0,679 kg, what will 28,6 ℓ of petrol weigh?

9. The reading on a water meter at the beginning of the month is 321,573 kℓ. At the end
of the month the reading is 332,523 kℓ. How much water (in ℓ) was used during this
month?

4.5 Decimals in algebraic expressions and equations

DECIMALS IN ALGEBRA

1. Simplify the following:

(a) 0, 09 x36 (b) 7,2x3 − 10,4x3

(c) (2,4x2y3)(10y3x) (d) 11,75x2 − 1,2x × 5x
3, 4 x − 1, 2 x
(e) (f) 3
0, 008 x12 + 0,16 x8
1,1x × 4
0, 4 y + 1, 2 y
(g) 3x2 + 0,1x2 − 45,6 + 3,9 (h)
0, 6 x − 3x
2. Simplify the following:
0, 5x9 0, 325 1, 675
(a) (b) 2
−
0, 02 x3 x x2

3, 6 x 5y 9, 5x2 0, 05x
(c) 3
× (d) ÷
1, 5y 0, 6 x 1, 2 y 2
0, 04 y 8

3. Solve the following equations:

(a) 0,24 + x = 0,31 (b) x + 5,61 = 7,23
(c) x – 3,14 = 9,87 (d) 4,21 – x = 2,74
(e) 0,96x = 0,48 (f) x ÷ 0,03 = 1,5

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Worksheet

You are not permitted to use a calculator in this exercise, except for question 5.
Ensure that you show all steps of working, where relevant.
1. Copy and complete the following table:
Percentage Common fraction Decimal fraction

2,5%
15
250

0,009

2. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 6,78 – 4,92 (b) 1,7 × 0,05 (c) 7,2 ÷ 0,36
3 0, 04
(d) 4,2 – 0,4 × 1,2 + 7,37 (e) (0,12)2 (f) 3
0, 027

3. 36 × 19 = 684. Use this result to determine:

(a) 3,6 × 1,9 (b) 0,036 × 0,19 (c) 68,4 ÷ 0,19

4. Simplify:
2,75x50
(a) (4,95x – 1,2) – (3,65x + 3,1) (b)
0, 005x25
5. Mulalo went to the shop and purchased two tubes of toothpaste for R6,98 each;
three cans of cooldrink for R6,48 each, and five tins of baked beans for R7,95
each. If he pays with a R100 note, how much change should he get?

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 Chapter 5
Exponents

5.1 Revision
Remember that exponents are a shorthand way of writing repeated multiplication of
the same number by itself. For example: 5 × 5 × 5 = 53. The exponent, which is 3 in this
example, stands for however many times the value is being multiplied. The number that
is being multiplied, which is 5 in this example, is called the base.
If there are mixed operations, then the powers should be calculated before multi-
plication and division. For example: 52 × 32 = 25 × 9.
You learnt these laws for working with exponents in previous grades:

Law Example
am × an = am + n 32 × 33 = 32 + 3 = 35
am ÷ an = am − n 54 ÷ 52 = 54 − 2 = 52
(am)n = am × n (23)2 = 22 × 3 = 26
(a × t)n = an × tn (3 × 4)2 = 32 × 42
a0 = 1 320 = 1

the exponential form of a number

1. Write the following in exponential notation:

(a) 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 (b) s × s × s × s (c) (−6) × (−6) × (−6)
(d) 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × s × s × s × s (e) 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 7 (f) 500 × (1,02) × (1,02)

2. Write each of the numbers in exponential notation in some different ways, if possible:
(a) 81 (b) 125 (c) 1 000
(d) 64 (e) 216 (f) 1 024

order of operations

1. Calculate the value of 72 − 4.

Bathabile did the calculation like this: 72 − 4 = 14 − 4 = 10
Nathaniel did the calculation differently: 72 − 4 = 49 − 4 = 45
Which learner did the calculation correctly? Give reasons for your answer.

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2. Calculate: 5 + 3 × 22 − 10, with explanations.

3. Explain how to calculate 26 − 62.

4. Explain how to calculate (4 + 1)2 + 8 × 3

64 .

laws of exponents

1. Use the laws of exponents to simplify the following (leave answer in exponential form):
(a) 22 × 24 (b) 34 ÷ 32 (c) 30 + 34
(d) (23)2 (e) (2 × 5)2 (f) (22 × 7)3

2. Copy and complete the table. Substitute the given number for y. The first column has
been done as an example.

y 2 3 4 5
(a) 2×2 4

= 21 + 4
y × y4
= 25
= 32
(b) 22 × 23
= 22 + 3
y ×y
2 3
=4×8
= 32

(c) y5 25 = 32

3. Are the expressions y × y4, y2 × y3 and y5 equivalent? Explain.

4. Copy and complete the table. Substitute the given number for y.

y 2 3 4 5
(a) 24 ÷ 22
y4 ÷ y2 = 16 ÷ 4
=4
(b) 23 ÷ 21
y3 ÷ y1 =8÷2
=4
(c) y2 22 = 4

5. (a) From the table, is y4 ÷ y2 = y3 ÷ y1 = y2? Explain.

(b) Evaluate y3 ÷ y1 for y = 15.

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 6. Copy and complete the following table:

x 2 3 4 5
(a) 2×5 2

2 × 5x = 2 × 25
= 50
(b) (2 × 5)2
(2 × 5)x = 102
= 100
(c) 22 × 52
2x × 5x = 4 × 25
= 100

7. (a) From the table above, is 2 × 5x = (2 × 5)x? Explain.

(b) Which expressions in question 6 are equivalent? Explain.

8. Below is a calculation that Wilson did as homework. Mark each problem correct or
incorrect and explain the mistakes.
(a) b3 × b8 = b24
(b) (5x)2 = 5x2
(c) (−6a) × (−6a) × (−6a) = (−6a)3

5.2 Integer exponents

54 means 5 × 5 × 5 × 5. The exponent 4 indicates the number of appearances of the
repeated factor.
What may a negative exponent mean, however? For example, what may 5−4 mean?
Mathematicians have decided to use negative exponents to indicate repetition of the
1 1 1 1 1
multiplicative inverse of the base, for example 5−4 is used to indicate × × × or ( )4,
1 1 1 1 5 5 5 5 5
and x−3 is used to indicate ( )3, which is × × .
x x x x
This decision was not taken blindly – mathematicians were well aware that it makes
good sense to use negative exponents in this meaning. One major advantage is that the
negative exponents, when used in this meaning, have the same properties as positive
exponents, for example:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2−3 × 2−4 = 2(−3) + (−4) = 2−7 because 2−3 × 2−4 means ( ×
× ) × ( × × × ) which is ( )7.
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1
2−3 × 24 = 2(−3) + 4 = 21 because 2−3 × 24 means ( × × ) × (2 × 2 × 2 × 2) which is 2.
2 2 2

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Negative exponents
1. Express each of the following in the exponential notation in two ways: with positive
exponents and with negative exponents:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
(a) × × × × × (b) × × ×
5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3
2. In each case, check whether the statement is true or false. If it is false, write a correct
statement. If it is true, give reasons why you say so.
(a) 10−3 = 0,001 (b) 3−5 × 92 = 3
1
(c) 252 × 10−6 × 26 = 5 (d) ( )−4 = 54
5
3. Calculate each of the following, without using a calculator:
1
(a) 10−3 × 204 (b) ( )−4
5
4. (a) Use a scientific calculator to determine the decimal values of the given powers.
Example: To find 3−1 on your calculator, use the key sequence: 3 yx 1 ± =

Power 2−1 5−1 (−2)−1 (0,3)−1 0−1 10−1 10−2

Decimal value

(b) Explain the meaning of 10−3.

5. Determine the value of each of the following in two ways:

A. By using the definition of powers (for example, 52 × 50 = 25 × 1 = 25).
B. By using the properties of exponents (for example, 52 × 50 = 52 + 0 = 52 = 25).

(a) (33)−2 (b) 42 × 4−2 (c) 5−2 × 5−1

6. Calculate the value of each of the following. Express your answers as common fractions.
(a) 2−3 (b) 32 × 3−2 (c) (2 + 3)−2
(d) 3−2 × 2−3 (e) 2−3 + 3−3 (f) 10−3
(g) 23 + 2−3 (h) (3−1)−1 (i) (2−3)2

7. Which of the following are true? Correct any false statement.

1 1
(a) 6−1 = −6 (b) 3x−2 = (c) 3−1x−2 =
3x2 3x2
�2 2 �1
1 �2� �3� �1�
(d) (ab)−2 = (e) � � = � � (f) � � =3
a2 b2 �3� �2� �3�

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 5.3 Solving simple exponential equations
An exponential equation is an equation in which the variable is in the exponent.
So, when you solve exponential equations, you are solving questions of the form;
“To what power must the base be raised for the statement to be true?”
To solve this kind of equation, remember that:
If am = an, then m = n.
In other words, if the base is the same on either side of the equation, then the
exponents are the same.

Example:
3x = 243
3x = 35 (rewrite using the same base)
x=5 (since the bases are the same, we equate the exponents)

Some exponential equations are slightly more complex:

Examples: 3x + 3 = 243 3x + 3 = 1 (remember 1 = 30)

3x + 3 = 35 (rewrite using the same base) 3x + 3 = 30 (rewrite using the same base)
x + 3 = 5 (equate the exponents) x+3 =0 (equate the exponents)
x =2 x = −3
Check: LHS 3 2+3
= 3 = 243
5

Remember that the exponent can also be negative. However, you follow the same
method to solve these kinds of equations.
1
Example: 2x =
32
2x = 2−5 (rewrite using the same base)
x = −5 (equate the exponents)

Solving exponential equations

1. Use the following table to answer questions that follow:

x 2 3 4 5
2x 4 8 16 32
3x 9 27 81 243
5x 25 125 625 3 125

Find the value of x:

(a) 2x = 32 (b) 3x = 81 (c) 5x = 3 125
(d) 2x = 8 (e) 5x = 625 (f) 3x = 9
(g) 5x + 1 = 25 (h) 3x + 2 = 27 (i) 2x − 1 = 8

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2. Solve these exponential equations. You may use your calculator if necessary.
1 1
(a) 4x = (b) 62x = 1 296 (c) 2x − 1 =
64 8
1 1
(d) 3x + 2 = (e) 5x + 1 = 15 625 (f) 2x + 3 =
729 4
1 1
(g) 4x + 3 = (h) 32 − x = 81 (i) 53x =
256 125

5.4 Scientific notation

Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too big or too small to be
written clearly in decimal form. The diameter of a hydrogen atom, for example, is a
very small number. It is 0,000000053 mm. The distance from the sun to the earth is,
on average, 150 000 000 km.
In scientific notation, the diameter of the hydrogen molecule is written as 5,3 × 10−8
and the distance from the sun to the earth is written as 1,5 × 10 8. It is easier to compare
and to calculate numbers like these, as it is very cumbersome to count the zeros when
you work with these numbers.
Look at more examples below:

Decimal notation Scientific notation

6 130 000 6,13 × 106
0,00001234 1,234 × 10−5

A number written in scientific notation is written as

the product of two numbers, in the form ± a × 10n.
Here, a is a decimal number between 1 and 10, and n
is an integer.

Any number can be written in scientific notation, for example:

40 = 4,0 × 10
2 = 2 × 100

The decimal number 324 000 000 is written as

3,24 × 10 8 in scientific notation, because the
decimal comma is moved eight places to the left to
form 3,24.
The decimal number 0,00000065 written in scientific
notation is 6,5 × 10−7, because the decimal point is
moved seven places to the right to form the number 6,5.

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 writing very small and very large numbers

1. Express the following numbers in scientific notation:

(a) 134,56 (b) 0,0000005678
(c) 876 500 000 (d) 0,0000000000321
(e) 0,006789 (f) 89 100 000 000 000
(g) 0,001 (h) 100
2. Express the following numbers in ordinary decimal notation:
(a) 1,234 × 106 (b) 5 × 10−1
(c) 4,5 × 105 (d) 6,543 × 10−11
3. Why do we say that 34 × 103 is not written in scientific notation? Rewrite it in
scientific notation.

4. Is each of these numbers written in scientific notation? If not, rewrite it so that it is in

scientific notation.
(a) 90,3 × 10−5 (b) 100 × 102 (c) 1,36 × 105
(d) 2,01 × 10−2 (e) 0,01 × 103 (f) 0,6 × 108

calculations using scientific notation

Example: 123 000 × 4 560 000

= 1,23 × 105 × 4,56 × 106 (write in scientific notation)
= 1,23 × 4,56 × 10 × 10
5 6
(multiplication is commutative)
= 5,6088 × 1011 (Use a calculator to multiply the decimals,
but add the powers mentally.)

1. Use scientific notation to calculate each of the following. Give the answer in scientific
notation.
(a) 135 000 × 246 000 000 (b) 987 654 × 123 456
(c) 0,000065 × 0,000216 (d) 0,000000639 × 0,0000587

Example: 5 × 103 + 4 × 104

= 0,5 × 104 + 4 × 104 (Form like terms)
= 4,5 × 104
(Combine like terms)

2. Calculate the following. Leave the answer in scientific notation.

(a) 7,16 × 105 + 2,3 × 103 (b) 2,3 × 10−4 + 6,5 × 10−3
(c) 4,31 × 107 + 1,57 × 106 (d) 6,13 × 10−10 + 3,89 × 10−8

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Chapter 6
Patterns

6.1 Geometric patterns

investigating and extending

Arrangement 1 Arrangement 2 Arrangement 3 Arrangement 4

1. Blue and yellow square tiles are combined to form the above arrangements.
(a) How many yellow tiles are there in each arrangement?
(b) How many blue tiles are there in each arrangement?
(c) If more arrangements are made in the same way, how many
blue tiles and how many yellow tiles will there be in
arrangement 5? Check your answer by drawing the arrangement
onto grid paper.
(d) Copy and complete the following table:

Number of yellow tiles 1 2 3 4 5 8

Number of blue tiles

(e) How many blue tiles will there be in a similar arrangement with 26 yellow tiles?
(f) How many blue tiles will there be in a similar arrangement with 100 yellow tiles?
(g) Describe how you thought to produce your answer for (f)?

2. (a) In these arrangements there are red tiles too. Copy and complete the table on
page 54, based on the following arrangements:

Arrangement 1 Arrangement 2 Arrangement 3 Arrangement 4

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 Number of blue tiles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of yellow tiles
Number of red tiles

(b) How many red tiles are there in each arrangement?

(c) How many yellow tiles are there in each arrangement?

The number of red tiles in arrangements like those in

question 2, is constant. It is always four, no matter
how many blue and yellow tiles there are.
The number of blue tiles is different for different
arrangements. We can say the number of blue tiles
varies. We can also say the number of blue tiles is
a variable.

3. Is the number of yellow tiles in the above arrangements

a constant or is it a variable?

4. Look at the arrangements on the right. They consist of

black squares, grey squares and white squares.

(a) Draw another arrangement of the same kind, but

with a different length, on grid paper.
(b) Describe what is constant in these arrangements.
(c) What are the variables in these arrangements?

The smallest arrangement above may be called

arrangement 1, the next bigger one may be called
arrangement 2, and so on.

5. (a) Copy and complete the table for arrangements

like those in question 4.

Arrangement number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 20
Number of black squares
Number of grey squares
Number of white squares

(b) How many grey squares do you think there will be in arrangement 15? Explain
your answer.
(c) How many black squares do you think there will be in arrangement 15? Explain
your answer.

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(d) How many white squares do you think there will be in arrangement 15? Explain
your answer.
The numbers of grey squares in the different arrangements in question 4 form a pattern:
4; 8; 12; 16; 20; 24; . . . , and so on.
The numbers of white squares in the different arrangements also form a pattern:
1; 4; 9; 16; 25; 36; 49; . . . , and so on.
6. What are the next five numbers in each of the above patterns?

7. (a) On grid paper, draw the next arrangement that

follows the same pattern:

(b) How many black tiles are there in the

arrangement you have drawn?
(c) How many black tiles will there be in each of the next four arrangements?

DO SOMETHING MORE

Consider the arrangements in question 4 on page 54 again. If there are 20 grey tiles in such an
arrangement, how many white tiles are there? Copy and complete the table, entering your
answer in the table.
Number of grey squares 20 36 52
Number of white squares 256 225 625

6.2 More patterns

drawing and investigating

1. (a) On grid paper, make two more arrangements of black and grey squares so that a
pattern is formed.

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 (b) Is there a constant in your pattern? If yes, what is its value?
(c) Is there a variable in your pattern? If yes, give the values of the variable.

2. (a) Make three more arrangements with dots to form the sequence 1; 3; 6; 10; 15 . . .

(b) How many dots will there be in the sixth and seventh arrangements?
Explain how you got your answer.
(c) How many dots are there in arrangements 1 and 2 together?
(d) How many dots are there in arrangements 2 and 3 together?
(e) How many dots are there in arrangements 3 and 4 together?
(f) How many dots are there in arrangements 4 and 5 together?
(g) Describe the pattern in your answers for (c), (d), (e) and (f).

3. (a) On grid paper, draw two more arrangements to make a pattern.

(b) What are the variables in your pattern?

(c) The number of black squares is a variable in these arrangements. The value
of this variable is four in the first arrangement and eight in the second
arrangement. What is the value of this variable in the third arrangement?
(d) What are the values of each of the variables in the fifth arrangement in your
pattern? Explain your answers.

4. (a) Now, on grid paper, make a pattern of your own.

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(b) Copy this table and use it to describe the variables in your pattern, and their values:

Arrangement number 1 2 3 4 5 6

6.3 Different kinds of patterns in sequences

do the same thing repeatedly
1. (a) Write the next three numbers in each of the sequences below.
Sequence A: 5 9 13 17 21

Sequence B: 5 10 20 40 80

Sequence C: 5 10 17 26 37

(b) Describe the differences in the ways in which the three sequences are formed.

2. You will now make a sequence with the first term 5. The numbers in a sequence
Write 5 on the left on the line below. Then add 8 are also called the terms of
to the first term (5) to form the second term the sequence.
of your sequence. Write the second term next to the
first term (5) in the line below. Now add 8 to the second term to form the third term.
Continue like this to form ten more terms.

A sequence can be formed by repeatedly adding To write more terms of

or subtracting the same number. In this case the sequence A in question 1(a),
difference between consecutive terms in a you added 4 repeatedly.
sequence is constant.
A sequence can be formed by repeatedly To write more terms of
multiplying or dividing. In this case the ratio sequence B in question
1(a), you multiplied by 2
between consecutive terms is constant.
repeatedly.
A sequence can also be formed in such a way
that neither the difference nor the ratio between To write more terms of
consecutive terms is constant. sequence C in question 1(a)
you did not add the same
3. Write the next three terms of each sequence. In each number each time, nor did
case also describe what the pattern is, for example you multiply by the same
“there is a constant difference of −5 between number.
consecutive terms”.

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 (a) 16; 8; 0; −8; ...
(b) 1; 4; 9; 16; ...
(c) 2; 8; 18; 32; ...
(d) 3; 6; 11; 18; ...
(e) 640; 320; 160; ...
(f) 1; 2; 4; 7; 11; ...

4. In each case, follow the instruction to make a sequence with eight terms.
(a) Start with 1 and multiply by 2 repeatedly.
(b) Start with 256 and subtract 32 repeatedly.
(c) Start with 256 and divide by 2 repeatedly.

The sequence that you made in question 2 can be represented with a table like the one
shown below:

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Term value 5 13 21 29 37 45 53 61 69 77

5. In each case make a sequence by following the instructions. Copy the tables and write
the term numbers and the term values in the tables.
(a) Term 1 = 10. Add 15 repeatedly.

Term number
Term value

(b) Term 1 = 10. Term value = 15 × term number − 5.

Term number
Term value

(c) Term 1 = 10. Multiply by 2 repeatedly.

Term number
Term value

(d) Term 1 = 20. Term value = 10 × 2term number

Term number
Term value

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(e) Term 1 = 10. Term value = 10 × 2term number − 1

Term number
Term value

(f) Term 4 = 30. Add 5 repeatedly.

Term number
Term value

6. Instructions for forming a sequence are given in two different ways in question 5.
How would you describe the two different ways for giving instructions to form a
sequence?

6.4 Formulae for sequences

The formula for a number sequence can be written in two different ways:

• A description of the relationship between

consecutive terms: In other words, the
calculations that you do to a term to produce the
next term, as in questions 5(a), (c) and (f) on the
previous page. The first (or another) term must be
given. This kind of formula has two parts: the first
term and the relationship between terms.
• A description of the relationship between
the value of the term and its position in
the sequence: This relationship describes the
calculations that can be done on the term
number to produce the term value, as in
question 5(b), (d) and (e) on the previous page.

make two formulae for the same sequence

1. Choose any whole number smaller than 10 as the first term of a sequence.
(a) Copy the table. Use your chosen first term to form a sequence by adding
5 repeatedly.
(b) Multiply each term number below by 5 to form a sequence:

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term value

(c) What is similar about the two sequences you have formed?

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 (d) Now fill in your own sequence in the same table:

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term value in (b)
Term value
of your own
sequence in (a)

(e) What must you add to or subtract from each term value in (b) to get the same
sequence as the one you made in (a)?
(f) Copy and fill in the following to write a formula for each sequence:
For the sequence in (b): Term value = (term number)
For the sequence in (a): Term value = (term number)

2. Now you are going to repeat what you did in question 1, with a different set of
sequences. In this sequence, the term number is multiplied by 3 to get the term value.

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term value 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24

Now make a formula describing the relationship of the term value to the term
number for each of these sequences:
(a) The sequence that starts with 8 and is formed by adding 3 repeatedly.
(b) The sequence that starts with 12 and is formed by adding 3 repeatedly.
(c) The sequence that starts with 2 and is formed by adding 3 repeatedly.

3. Copy the tables. Write the first eight terms of each of the following sequences and in
each case, describe how each term can be calculated from the previous term.
(a) Term value = 10 × term number + 5

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term value

(b) Term value = 5 × term number − 3

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term value

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4. For each sequence, write a formula to obtain each term from the previous term. Try to
write a formula which relates each term to its position in the sequence. Check both
your formulae by applying them, and write the results in a table like the one below.
(a) 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43
A. Relationship between consecutive terms

B. Relationship between term value and its position in sequence

Term number 1 2 3 4 5
Term value using A
Term value using B

(b) 60 57 54 51 48 45 42 39 36
A. Relationship between consecutive terms

B. Relationship between term value and its position in sequence

Term number 1 2 3 4 5
Term value using A
Term value using B

(c) 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
A. Relationship between consecutive terms

B. Relationship between term value and its position in sequence

Term number 1 2 3 4 5
Term value using A
Term value using B

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 Chapter 7
Functions and relationships

7.1 Find output numbers for given input numbers

two different sets of input numbers

In this activity you will do some calculations with:

• Set A: the natural numbers smaller than 10, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
• Set B: multiples of 10 that are bigger than 10 but smaller than 100, i.e. the numbers
20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90.

1. You are going to choose a number, multiply it by 5, and subtract the answer from 50.
(a) Choose any number from set A and do the above calculations.
(b) Choose any number from set B and do the above calculations.
(c) If you choose any other number from set B, do you think the answer will also be
a negative number?

2. (a) Write down all the different output numbers Output numbers are
that will be obtained when the calculations numbers that you obtain
50 – 5x are performed on the different when you apply the rule to
numbers in set A. the input numbers.
(b) Write down the output numbers that will be
obtained when the formula 50 – 5x is applied to set B.

3. (a) Copy and complete the following table for set A:

Input numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Values of 50 – 5x

(b) Copy and complete the following table for set B:

Input numbers 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Values of 50 – 5x

4. In this question your set of input numbers will be the even numbers: 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; ...
(a) What will all the output numbers be if the rule 2n + 1 is applied to the set of even
   numbers? Write a list.

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(b) What will the output numbers be if the rule 2n − 1 is applied?

(c) What will the output numbers be if the rule 2n + 5 is applied?
(d) What will the output numbers be if the rule 3n + 1 is applied?
5. (a) What kind of output numbers will be obtained by applying the rule x – 1 000 to
natural numbers smaller than 1 000?
x
(b) What kind of output numbers will be obtained by applying the rule + 10 to
10
natural numbers smaller than 10?
(c) If you use the rule 30x + 2, and use input numbers that are positive fractions with
denominators 2, 3 and 5, what kind of output numbers will you obtain?

7.2 Different ways to represent the same relationship

Consider the work that you did in Section 6.4 of A quantity that changes is
Chapter 6. In each question, there were two called a variable quantity
variable quantities. or just a variable.

If one variable quantity is influenced by another,

we say there is a relationship between the two
variables. You can sometimes work out which
number is linked to a specific value of the other
variable. The output number can also
An algebraic expression, such as 10x + 5, describes be called the output value, or
the value of the expression,
what calculations must be done to find the output
which is 10x + 5 in this case.
number that corresponds to a given input number.
For any input number, application of the rule 10x + 5 produces only one output
number, and it is very clear what that number is. For instance, if the formula is applied
to x = 3, the output number is 35.

A relationship between two variables in which there

is only one output number for each input number, is
called a function.

Functions can be represented in:

• a table that shows some values of the two variables

as it clearly shows which value of the output
variable corresponds to each particular value of the
input variable
• a flow diagram, which shows what calculations
are to be done to calculate the output number that
corresponds to a given input variable

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 • a formula, which also describes what calculations
are to be done to calculate the output number that
corresponds to a given input variable
• a graph.

Examples of these four ways of describing a function are given on the next two pages.

1. Copy and complete the following flow diagram:

–1

–2

–3 ×5 + 20

–4

–5

A completed flow diagram shows two kinds of information:

• It shows what calculations are done to produce the
output numbers.
• It shows which output number is connected to which
input number.

The flow diagram that you completed shows:

• that each input number is multiplied by 5, then 20 is added, to produce the output
numbers
• which output numbers correspond to which input numbers.

The calculations that need to be done can also be described with an expression.
The expression 5x + 20 describes the calculations that you did in question 1. You can
also write this as a formula:

• A verbal formula: The output numbers of a

output number = 5 × input number + 20 function are also called
function values. Hence the
• An algebraic formula: formula can also be written as
output number = 5x + 20 function value = 5x + 20.

2. Copy and complete this table for the function described by 5x + 20:

Input numbers −1 −2 −3 −4 −5
Function values

3. Draw a graph of this function discussed in question 1 and 2 on graph paper.

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4. A graph of a certain function is given below. Copy and complete the table for this
function:

Input numbers
Function values

15

10

–15 –10 –5 0 5 10 15

–5

–10

–15

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 7.3 Different representations of the same relationship
On separate pages, represent each of the following functions with the following:
(a) a flow diagram
(b) a table of values for the set of integers from −5 to 5
(c) a graph

1. The relationship described by the expression 3x + 4.

2. The relationship described by the expression 2x − 5.

1
3. The relationship described by the expression x + 2.
2
4. The relationship described by the expression −3x + 4.

5. The relationship described by the expression 2,5x + 1,5.

6. The relationship described by the expression 0,2x + 1,4.

7. The relationship described by the expression −2x − 4.

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Chapter 8
Algebraic expressions

8.1 Algebraic language

words, diagrams and expressions

1. Copy and complete the following table:

Words Flow diagram Expression

Multiply a number by 5
and then subtract 3 from the ×5 –3 5x − 3
answer.
(a) Add 5 to a number and then
multiply the answer by 3.
(b)
–3 ×5

(c)
3(2x + 3)

An algebraic expression indicates a sequence of

operations that can also be described in words. In
some cases they can be described with flow diagrams.

Expressions in brackets should always be calculated first. If there are no brackets in an

algebraic expression, it means that multiplication and division must be done first, and
addition and subtraction afterwards.
For example, if x = 5 the expression 12 + 3x means “multiply 5 by 3, then add 12”.
It does not mean “add 12 and 3, then multiply by 5”.
If you wish to say “add 12 and 3, then multiply by 5”, the numerical expression
should be 5 × (12 + 3) or (12 + 3) × 5.

2. Describe each of these sequences of calculations with an algebraic expression:

(a) Multiply a number by 10, subtract 5 from the answer, and multiply the
answer by 3.

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 (b) Subtract 5 from a number, multiply the answer by 10, and multiply this
answer by 3.
3. Evaluate each of these expressions for x = 10:
(a) 200 − 5x (b) (200 − 5)x
(c) 5x + 40 (d) 5(x + 40)
(e) 40 + 5x (f) 5x + 5 × 40

some words we use in algebra

• An expression with one term only, like 3x2, is a monomial.

• An expression which is a sum of two terms, like 5x + 4, is called a binomial.
• An expression which is a sum of three terms, like 3x3 + 2x + 9, is called a trinomial.

The symbol x is often used to represent the variable in an algebraic expression, but
other letter symbols may also be used.
In the monomial 3x2, the 3 is called the coefficient of x2.
In the binomial 5x + 4, and the trinomial 3x2 + 2x + 9, the numbers 4 and 9 are called
constants.

1. Copy and complete the table, using the completed first row as an example:

Type of Symbol used to

Expression Constant Coefficient of ...
expression represent the variable
the second term
x2 + 6x + 10 Trinomial x 10
is: 6
6s3 + s2 + 5 s2 is:

k the first term is:

+ 12
3

4p10 p10 is:

2. Consider the polynomial pattern starting with 7x5 + 5x4 + 3x3 + x2 + ...
(a) What is the coefficient of the fourth term?
(b) What is the exponent value of the fifth term?
(c) Do you think the sixth term will be a constant? Why?

equivalent algebraic expressions

1. Copy and complete the table on page 69 by doing the necessary calculations.
Calculate the numerical value of the expressions for the various values of x.

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x −2 −1 0 1 2

(a) 3x + 2

(b) 2x − 3

(c) 3x + 2 + 2x − 3

(d) 2x − 3 + 3x + 2

(e) 5x − 1

(f) (3x + 2)(2x − 3)

(g) 3x(2x − 3) + 2(2x − 3)

(h) 6x2 − 5x − 6

(i) (3x � 2 )(2 x � 3)

3x � 2

(j) 6 x2 � 5x � 6
3x � 2

2. Although they may look different, make a list of all the algebraic expressions above
which have the same numerical value for the same value of x.

Equivalent expressions are algebraic expressions

that have different sequences of operations, but have
the same numerical value for any given value of x.
It is often convenient not to work with a given
expression, but to replace it with an equivalent
expression.

3. Copy and complete the following table:

x 2 3 5 10 −5 −10
12x − 7 + 3x + 10 − 5x

4. Copy and complete the following table:

x 2 3 5 10 −5 −10
10x + 3

5. (a) Is 10x + 3 equivalent to 12x − 7 + 3x + 10 − 5x? Explain your answer.

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 (b) Suppose you need to know how much 12x − 7 + 3x + 10 − 5x is for x = 37 and
x = −43. What do you think is the easiest way to find out?

conventions for writing algebraic expressions

Here are some things that mathematicians have A convention is something

agreed upon, and it makes mathematical work much that people have agreed to
easier if all people stick to these agreements. do in the same way.

The multiplication sign is often omitted in algebraic

expressions: We normally write 4x instead of 4 × x,
and 4(x − 5) instead of 4 × (x − 5).
It is a convention to write a known number first in
a product, i.e. we write 3 × x rather than x × 3, and we
write 3x but not x3.

1. Rewrite each of the following in the normal way of writing algebraic expressions:
(a) x × 4 + x × y − y × 3 (b) 7 × (10 − x) + (5 × x + 3)10

People all over the world have agreed that, in

expressions that do not contain brackets, addition
and subtraction should be performed as they appear
from left to right.

According to this convention, x − y + z means that you first have to subtract y from x,
then add z. For example if x = 10, y = 5 and z = 3, x − y + z is 10 − 5 + 3 and it means
10 − 5 = 5, then 5 + 3 = 8. It does not mean 5 + 3 = 8, then 10 − 8 = 2.

2. Calculate 50 − 20 + 30 and 50 + 30 − 20 and 50 − 30 + 20.

3. Evaluate each of the following expressions for x = 10, y = 5 and z = 2:

(a) x + y − z (b) x − z + y
(c) 10y − 3x + 5z − 4y (d) 10y − 3x − 5z + 4y + 3x

People have also agreed that, in expressions that do

not contain brackets, we should do multiplication
(and division) before addition and subtraction.

Hence, 5 + 3 × 4 should be understood as “multiply 4 by 3, then add the answer to 5”;

not as “add 5 and 3 then multiply the answer by 4”.
Also, 3 × 4 + 5 should be understood as “multiply 4 by 3, then add 5 to the answer”;
not as “add 4 and 5 then multiply the answer by 3”.

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4. Do each of the following calculations:

(a) Multiply 4 by 3, then add 5 to the answer.
(b) Add 4 and 5, then multiply the answer by 3.
(c) Multiply 4 by 3, then add the answer to 5.
(d) Add 5 and 3, then multiply the answer by 4.

5. Rewrite the instructions in 4(a) and 4(c) without using words.

6. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 10 × 5 + 30 (b) 30 + 10 × 5
(c) 10 × 5 − 30 (d) 30 − 10 × 5

7. (a) Add 4 and 5, then subtract the answer from 20.

(b) Subtract 4 from 20 and then add 5.
(c) Add 4 and 5, then multiply the answer by 3.
(d) Multiply 3 by 5 and then add the answer to 4.

If we want to specify the calculations in 7(a) and 7(c) without using words, we will face
challenges.
We cannot write 20 − 4 + 5 for “add 4 and 5 then subtract the answer from 20”, because
that would mean “subtract 4 from 20, then add 5”. We need a way to indicate, without
using words, that we want the addition to be performed before the subtraction in this
case.
Similarly, we cannot write 4 + 5 × 3 for “add 4 and 5 then multiply the answer by 3”,
because that would mean “multiply 3 by 5 and then add the answer to 4”. We need a way
to indicate, without using words, that we want the addition to be performed before the
multiplication in this case.
Mathematicians have agreed to use brackets to address the above challenges.
The following convention is used all over the world:

Whenever there are brackets in an expression, the

calculations within the brackets should be performed
first.

Hence, 20 − (4 + 5) means “add 4 and 5 then subtract the answer from 20”, but
20 − 4 + 5 means “subtract 4 from 20, then add 5”.
(4 + 5) × 3 or 3 × (4 + 5) means “add 4 and 5 then multiply the answer by 3”, but
4 + 5 × 3 means “multiply 3 by 5, then add the answer to 4”.
10 + 2(5 + 9) means “add 5 and 9, multiply the answer by 2, then add this answer to 10”:
5 + 9 = 14      14 × 2 = 28      28 + 10 = 38

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 8. Calculate each of the following:
(a) 100 + 50 − 30 (b) 100 + (50 − 30)
(c) 100 − 50 + 30 (d) 100 − (50 + 30)
(e) 3(10 − 4) + 2 (f) 10(5 + 7) + 3(18 − 8)
(g) 250 − 10 × (18 + 2) + 35 (h) (20 + 20) × (20 − 10)
(i) (250 − 10) × (18 + 2) + 35 (j) 20 + 20 × (20 − 10)
(k) 200 + (100 × 2(15 + 5)) (l) (200 + 100) × 2 × 15 + 5

In algebra, we normally write 3(x + 2y) instead of (x + 2y) × 3, and we write 3(x − 2y)
instead of (x − 2y) × 3. Do not let this conventional way of writing in algebra confuse you.
The expression 3(x + 2y) does not mean that multiplication by 3 is the first thing you
should do when you evaluate the expression for certain values of x and y. The first thing
you should do is to add the values of x and y. That is what the brackets tell you!
However, performing the instructions 3(x + 2y) is not the only way in which you can
find out how much 3(x + 2y) is for any given values of x and y. Instead of working out
3(x + 2y), you may work out 3x + 6y. In this case you will multiply each term before you
add them together.

9. Evaluate each of the following expressions for x = 10, y = 5 and z = 2:

(a) xy + z (b) x(y + z)
(c) x + yz (d) xy + xz
(e) xy − z (f) x(y − z)
(g) x − yz (h) xy − yz
(i) x + (y − z) (j) x − (y − z)
(k) x − (y + z) (l) x−y−z
(m) x+y−z (n) x−y+z

8.2 Properties of operations

1. Calculate each of the following:
(a) 5(3 + 4) (b) 5 × 3 + 5 × 4
(c) 6 × 3 + (4 + 6) (d) (6 + 4) + 3 × 6
(e) 3 × (4 × 5) (f) (3 × 4) × 5

You should have noticed that for each row the results are the same. This is because
operations with numbers have certain properties, namely the distributive,
commutative and associative properties.

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The distributive property is used each time you The word “distribute” means
multiply a number in parts. For example: to spread out. The distributive
The number thirty-four is actually 30 + 4. You may property may be described as
calculate 5 × 34 by calculating 5 × 30 and 5 × 4, and follows:
then adding the two answers: a(b + c) = ab + ac
where a, b and c can be any
5 × 34 = 5 × 30 + 5 × 4 numbers.
We may say: “multiplication
distributes over addition”.

2. Calculate each of the following:

(a) 5(x − y) for x = 10 and y = 8 (b) 5x − 5y for x = 10 and y = 8
(c) 5(x − y) for x = 100 and y = 30 (d) 5x − 5y for x = 100 and y = 30
(e) 5(x − y + z) for x = 10, y = 3 and z = 2 (f) 5x − 5y + 5z for x = 10, y = 3 and z = 2

3. We say “multiplication distributes over addition”. Does multiplication also distribute

over subtraction? Give examples to support your answer.

For any values of x and y:

• x + y and y + x give the same answers, and
• xy and yx give the same answers.
This is called the commutative property of addition and multiplication.

4. We say “addition is commutative” and “multiplication is commutative”.

Is subtraction also commutative? Demonstrate your answer with an example.

The associative property allows you to arrange three or more numbers in any
sequence when adding or multiplying. For any values of x, y and z, the following
expressions all have the same answer:
x + y + z      y + x + z      z + y + x

5. Calculate 16 + 33 + 14 + 17 in the easiest possible way.

The associative property of multiplication allows you to simplify something like the
following:
abc + bca + cba
Because the order of multiplication does not change the result we can rewrite this
expression as: abc + abc + abc.
This then can be simplified by adding like terms to When you form an expression
be 3abc. You will be able to use these properties that is equivalent to a given
expression, you say that you
throughout this chapter and when you do algebraic
manipulate the expression.
manipulations.

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 6. Replace each of the following expressions with a simpler expression that will give
the same answer. Do not do any calculations now. In each case, state why your
replacement will be easier to do.
(a) 17 × 43 + 17 × 57
(b) 7 × 5 × 8 × 4 + 12 × 8 × 4 × 7 − 9 × 4 × 5 × 8
(c) 43 × 17 + 57 × 17
(d) 43x + 57x (for x = 213 or any other value)

7. Which properties of operations did you use in each part of question 6?

8.3 Combining like terms in algebraic expressions

rearrange terms, then combine like terms

To check whether two expressions are possibly equivalent, you can evaluate both
expressions for several different values of the variable.

1. In each case below, copy the tables, then predict whether the two expressions are
equivalent. Check by evaluating both for x = 1, x = 10, x = 2 and x = −2 in the tables.
(a) x(x + 3) and x2 + 3

(b) x(x + 3) and x2 + 3x

Some expressions can be simplified by rearranging the terms and combining

“like terms”.
In the expression 5x2 + 13x + 7 + 2x2 − 8x − 12, the terms 5x2 and 2x2 are like terms.

Two or more like terms can be combined to form a

single term.

5x2 + 2x2 can be replaced by 7x2 because for any value of x, for example x = 2 or x = 10,
calculating 5x2 + 2x2 and 7x2 will produce the same output value. Try it!

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2. Copy and complete the following table:

x 10 2 5 1

5x2 + 2x2

7x2

13x − 8x

5x

It is difficult to see the like terms in a long expression like 3x2 + 13x + 7 + 2x2 − 8x − 12.
Fortunately, you can rearrange the terms in an expression so that the like terms are next
to each other.

3. (a) Copy the table and complete the second and third rows of the table. You will
complete the next two rows when you do question 3(g).

x 10 2 5 1

3x2 + 13x + 7 + 2x2 − 8x − 12

3x2 + 2x2 + 13x − 8x + 7 − 12

(b) What do you observe?

(c) How does the one expression in the above table differ from the other one?
(d) Combine like terms in 3x2 + 2x2 + 13x − 8x + 7 − 12 to make a shorter equivalent
expression.
(e) Evaluate your shorter expression for x = 10, x = 2 and x = 5.
(f) Is your shorter expression equivalent to 3x2 + 13x + 7 + 2x2 − 8x − 12?
Explain how you know whether it is or is not.  
(g) Evaluate 5x2 + 5x − 5 and 5(x2 + x − 1) for x = 10, x = 2, x = 5 and x = 1, and write
your answers in the last two rows of the table.

4. Simplify each expression:

(a) (3x2 + 5x + 8) + (5x2 + x + 4) (b) (7x2 + 3x + 5) + (2x2 − x − 2)
(c) (6x2 − 7x − 4) + (4x2 + 5x + 5) (d) (2x2 − 5x − 9) − (5x2 − 2x − 1)
(e) (−2x2 + 5x − 3) + (−3x2 − 9x + 5) (f) (y2 + y + 1) + (y2 − y − 1)

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 5. Copy and complete the table. (Hint: Save yourself some work by simplifying first!)

x 2,5 3,7 6,4 12,9 35 −4,7 −0,04

(3x + 6,5) + (7x + 3,5)
(13x − 6) + (26 − 12x)

6. Simplify:
(a) (2r2 + 3r − 5) + (7r2 − 8r − 12) (b) (2r2 + 3r − 5) − (7r2 − 8r − 12)
(c) (2x + 5xy + 3y) − (12x − 2xy − 5y) (d) (2x + 5xy + 3y) + (12x − 2xy − 5y)

7. Evaluate the following expressions for x = 3, x = −2, x = 5 and x = −3:

(a) 2x(x2 − x − 1) + 5x(2x2 + 3x − 5) − 3x(x2 + 2x + 1)
(b) (3x2 − 5x + 7) − (7x2 + 3x − 5) + (5x2 − 2x + 8)

8. Write equivalent expressions without brackets:

(a) 3x4 − (x2 + 2x) (b) 3x4 − (x2 − 2x)
(c) 3x4 + (x2 − 2x) (d) x − (y + z − t)

9. Write equivalent expressions without brackets, rearrange so that like terms are
grouped together, and then combine the like terms:
(a) 2y2 + (y2 − 3y) (b) 3x2 + (5x + x2)
(c) 6x2 − (x4 + 3x2) (d) 2t2 − (3t2 − 5t3)
(e) 6x2 + 3x − (4x2 + 5x) (f) 2r2 − 5r + 7 + (3r2 − 7r − 8)
(g) 5(x2 + x) + 2(x2 + 3x) (h) 2x(x − 3) + 5x(x + 2)

10. Write equivalent expressions without brackets and simplify these expressions as far
as possible.
Example: 5r2 − 2r(r + 5) = 5r2 − 2r2 − 10r
= 3r2 − 10r
(a) 3x2 + x(x + 3) (b) 5x + x(7 − 2x)
(c) 6r2 − 2r(r − 5) (d) 2a(a + 3) + 5a(a − 2)
(e) 6y(y + 1) − 3y(y + 2) (f) 4x(2x − 3) − 3x(x + 2)
(g) 2x2(x − 5) − x(3x2 − 2) (h) x(x − 1) + x(2x + 3) − 2x(3x + 1)

8.4 Multiplication of algebraic expressions

Multiply polynomials by monomials

1. (a) Calculate 3 × 38 and 3 × 62, and add the two answers.

(b) Add 38 and 62, then multiply the answer by 3.

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(c) If you do not get the same answer for (a) and (b), you have made a mistake.
Rework until you get it right.

The fact that if you work correctly, you get the same The distributive property may
answer in questions 1(a) and (b), is a demonstration be described as follows:
of the distributive property. a(b + c) = ab + ac and
a(b − c) = ab − ac,
where a, b and c can be any
What you saw in question 1 was that:
numbers.
3 × 100 = 3 × 38 + 3 × 62.
This can also be expressed by writing 3(38 + 62) = 3 × 38 + 3 × 62.

2. (a) Calculate 10 × 56.

(b) Calculate 10 × 16 + 10 × 40.

3. (a) Write down any two numbers smaller than 100. Let us call them x and y.
Add your two numbers and multiply the answer by 3.
(b) Calculate 3 × x and 3 × y, and add the two answers.
(c) If you do not get the same answers for (a) and (b), you have made a mistake
somewhere. Correct your work.

4. Copy and complete the following table:

x 12 50 5
y 4 30 10
5x − 5y

5(x − y)

5x + 5y

5(x + y)

Performing the instructions 5(x + y) is not the only way in which you can find out
how much 5(x + y) is for any given values of x and y. Instead of doing 5(x + y), you may
do 5x + 5y. In this case you will multiply first, and again, before you add.

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 5. (a) For x = 10 and y = 20, evaluate 8(x + y) by first adding 10 and 20, and then
multiplying by 8.
(b) Now evaluate 8(x + y) by doing 8x + 8y; in other words, first calculate 8 × 10 and
8 × 20.

6. In question 5 you evaluated 8(x + y) in two different ways for the given values of x
and y. Now also evaluate 20(x − y) in two different ways, for x = 5 and y = 3.

7. Use the distributive property in each of the following cases to make a different
expression that is equivalent to the given expression:
(a) a(b + c) (b) a(b + c + d) What you do in this question is
(c) x(x + 1) (d) x(x2 + x + 1) sometimes called “multiplication
(e) x(x3 + x2 + x + 1) (f) x2(x2 − x + 3) of a polynomial by a monomial”.
(g) 2x2(3x2 + 2) (h) 3x3(2x2 + 4x − 5) One may also say that in each
(i) −2x4(x3 − 2x2 − 4x + 5) (j) a2b(a3 − a2 + a + 1) case you expand the expression,
(k) x2y3(3x2y + xy2 − y) (l) −2x(x3 − y3) or you write an equivalent
expression in expanded form.
(m) 2a2b(3a2 + 2a2b2 + 4b2) (n) 2ab2(3a3 − 1)

8. Expand the parts of each expression and simplify. Then evaluate the expression
for x = 5.
(a) 5(x − 2) + 3(x + 4) (b) x(x + 4) − 4 (x + 4)
(c) x(x − 4) + 4(x − 4) (d) x(x2 + 3x + 9) − 3(x2 + 3x + 9)
(e) x(x2 − 3x + 9) + 3(x2 − 3x + 9) (f) x2(x2 − 3x + 4) − x(x3 + 4x2 + 2x + 3)

9. Write in expanded form:

(a) x(x2 + 2xy + y2) + y(x2 + 2xy + y2)
(b) x2y(x2 − 2xy + y2) − xy2(2x2 − 3xy − y2)
(c) ab2c(b2c2 − ac) + b2c4(a2 + abc2)
(d) p2q(pq2 + p + q) + pq(p − q2)

squares and cubes and roots of monomials

1. Evaluate each of the following expressions for x = 2, x = 5 and x = 10:

(a) (3x)2 (b) 9x2
(c) (2x)2 (d) 4x2
(e) (2x)3 (f) 8x3
(g) (2x + 3x)2 (h) (10x − 7x)2

2. In each case, write an equivalent monomial without brackets:

(a) (5x)2 (b) (5x)3
(c) (20x)2 (d) (10x)3
(e) (2x + 7x)2 (f) (20x − 13x)3

The square root of 16x2 is 4x, because (4x)2 = 16x2.

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3. Write down the square root of each of the following expressions:

(a) (7 x )2 (b) 9 x2

(c) (20 x)2 (d) 100 x2

(e) (20 x − 15x)2 (f) 16 x2 + 9 x2

(g) (21x − 16 x)2 (h) (5x)2

The cube root of 64x3 is 4x, because (4x)3 = 64x3.

4. Write down the cube root of each of the following expressions:

(a) 3
(7 x)3 (b) 3
27 x3

(c) 3
(20 x)3 (d) 3
1 000x3

(e) 3
(20 x − 15x)3 (f) 3
125x3

8.5 Dividing polynomials by integers and monomials

1. Copy and complete the following table:

x 20 10 5 −5 −10 −20
(100x − 5x2) ÷ 5x
20 − x

Can you explain your observations?

2. (a) R240 prize money must be shared equally between 20 netball players.
How much should each one get?
(b) Mpho decided to do the calculations below. Do not do Mpho’s calculations, but
think about this: Will Mpho get the same answer that you got for question (a)?
(140 ÷ 20) + (100 ÷ 20)
(c) Gert decided to do the calculations below. Without doing the calculations, say
whether or not Gert will get the same answer that you got for question (a).
(240 ÷ 12) + (240 ÷ 8)

3. Do the necessary calculations to find out whether the following statements are true
or false:
(a) (140 + 100) ÷ 20 = (140 ÷ 20) + (100 ÷ 20)
(b) 240 ÷ (12 + 8) = (240 ÷ 12) + (240 ÷ 8)
(c) (300 − 60) ÷ 20 = (300 ÷ 20) − (60 ÷ 20)

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 Division is right-distributive over addition
and subtraction, for example:
(2 + 3) ÷ 5 = (2 ÷ 5) + (3 ÷ 5).
The division symbol is to the right of the brackets;
it is not left-distributive, for example:
10 ÷ (2 + 4) ≠ (10 ÷ 2) + (10 ÷ 4).

For example: (200 + 40) ÷ 20 = (200 ÷ 20) + (40 ÷ 20) = 10 + 2 = 12, and
(500 + 200 − 300) ÷ 50 = (500 ÷ 50) + (200 ÷ 50) − (300 ÷ 50)
4. Evaluate each expression for x = 2 and x = 10:
(a) (10x2 + 5x) ÷ 5 (b) (10x2 ÷ 5) + (5x ÷ 5)
(c) 2x2 + x (d) (10x2 + 5x) ÷ 5x
(e) (10x2 ÷ 5x) + (5x ÷ 5x) (f) 2x + 1
The distributive property of division
can be expressed in the following way:
(x + y) ÷ z = (x ÷ z) + (y ÷ z)
(x − y) ÷ z = (x ÷ z) − (y ÷ z)

5. (a) Do not do any calculations. Which of the following expressions do you think
will have the same value as (10x2 + 20x − 15) ÷ 5, for x = 10 as well as x = 2?
2x2 + 20x − 15   10x2 + 20x − 3   2x2 + 4x − 3   
(b) Do the necessary calculations to check your answer.

6. Simplify:
(a) (2x + 2y) ÷ 2 (b) (4x + 8y) ÷ 4
(c) (20xy + 16x) ÷ 4x (d) (42x − 6) ÷ 6
(e) (28x4 − 7x3 + x2) ÷ x2 (f) (24x2 + 16x) ÷ 8x
(g) (30x2 − 24x) ÷ 3x

7. Simplify:
(a) (9x2 + xy) ÷ xy (b) (48a − 30ab + 16ab2) ÷ 2a
(c) (3a3 + a2) ÷ a2 (d) (13a − 17ab) ÷ a
(e) (3a2 + 5a3) ÷ a (f) (39a2b + 13ab + ab2) ÷ ab
72
The instruction 72 ÷ 6 may also be written as .
6
This notation, which looks just like the common fraction notation, is often used to
indicate division.
10 x2 + 20 x − 15
Hence, instead of (10x2 + 20x − 15) ÷ 5, we may write .
5
Since (10x2 + 20x − 15) ÷ 5 is equivalent to (10x2 ÷ 5) + (20x ÷ 5) − (15 ÷ 5),
10 x2 + 20 x − 15 10 x2 20 x 15
is equivalent to + − .
5 5 5 5

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8. Find a simpler equivalent expression for each of the following expressions (clearly,
these expressions do not make sense if x = 0):
16 x2 − 12 x 16 x3 − 12 x
(a) (b)
4x 4x
16 x3 − 12 x2 16 x3 − 12 x2
(c) (d)
4x 4 x2
16 x3 − 12 x2 16 x3 − 12 x
(e) (f)
2x 8x

9. In each case check if the statement is true for x = 10, x = 100, x = 5, x = 1 and
x = −2.
x2 x3 x3
(a) = x  (b) = x2 (c) =x
x x x2
5x3 5x3 5x 5
(d) = 5x2 (e) = 53 (f) 2
=
x x x x

10. Explain why the equations below are true:

100 x − 5x2
(a) = 20 − x for all values of x, except x = 0.
5x
15x2 − 10 x
(b) is equivalent to 3x − 2, excluding x = 0.
5x

11. Copy and complete the following table:

x 1,5 2,8 −3,1 0,72

3x + 12
3

18 x2 + 6
6

5x2 + 7 x
x

(Hint: Simplify the expressions first to save yourself some work!)

12. Simplify each expression to the equivalent form requiring the fewest operations:
3a + a 2 x3 + 2 x2 − x 2a + 12ab
(a) (b) (c)
a x 2a
12 x2 + 10 x 21ab − 14a 2 15a 2 b + 30ab 2
(d) (e) (f)
2x 7a 5ab
7 x3 + 21x2 3x2 + 9 x
(g) (h)
7 x2 3x

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 13. Solve the equations:
3x2 + 15x 30 x − 18 x2
(a) = 20 (b) =2
3x 6x

14. Copy and complete the following table:

x 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5

x3 + 2 x2 − x
(a)
x

7 x3 + 21x2
(b)
7 x2

50 x2 + 5x
(c)
5x

15. Simplify the following expressions:

3x(5x + 4) + 6 x(5x + 3) 14 x2 − 28 x 24 x − 18 x2
(a) (b) +
5x 7x 3x

8.6 Products and squares of binomials

How can we obtain the expanded form of (x + 2)(x + 3)?
In order to expand (x + 2)(x + 3), you can first keep (x + 2) as it is, and apply the
distributive property:
(x + 2)(x + 3)
= (x + 2)x + (x + 2)3
= x2 + 2x + 3x + 6
= x2 + 5x + 6
1. Describe how can you check if (x + 2)(x + 3) is actually equivalent to x2 + 5x + 6.

To expand (x − y)(x + 3y) it can be written as (x − y)x + (x − y)3y, and the two parts can
then be expanded.
(x − y)(x + 3y)
= (x − y)x + (x − y)3y
= x2 − xy + 3xy − 3y2
= x2 + 2xy − 3y2
2. Do some calculations to check whether (x − y)(x + 3y) and x2 + 2xy − 3y2 are
equivalent. Write the results of your calculations in a table like the one on page 83.

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x
y

3. Expand each of these expressions:

(a) (x + 3)(x + 4) (b) (x + 3)(4 − x)
(c) (x + 3)(x − 5) (d) (2x2 + 1)(3x − 4)
(e) (x + y)(x + 2y) (f) (a − b)(2a + 3b)
(g) (k2 + m)(k2 + 2m) (h) (2x + 3)(2x − 3)
(i) (5x + 2)(5x − 2) (j) (ax − by)(ax + by)

4. Expand each of these expressions:

(a) (a + b)(a + b) (b) (a − b)(a − b)
(c) (x + y)(x + y) (d) (x − y)(x − y)
(e) (2a + 3b)(2a + 3b) (f) (2a − 3b)(2a − 3b)
(g) (5x + 2y)(5x + 2y) (h) (5x − 2y)(5x − 2y)
(i) (ax + b)(ax + b) (j) (ax − b)(ax − b)

5. Can you guess the answer to each of the following questions without working it out
as you did in question 3? Try them out and then check your answers.
Expand the following expressions:
(a) (m + n)(m + n) (b) (m − n)(m − n)
(c) (3x + 2y)( 3x + 2y) (d) (3x − 2y)( 3x − 2y)

All the expressions in questions 4 and 5 are squares

of binomials, for example (ax + b)2 and (ax − b)2.

6. Expand:
(a) (ax + b)2 (b) (ax − b)2
(c) (2s + 5)2 (d) (2s − 5)2
(e) (ax + by)2 (f) (ax − by)2
(g) (2s + 5r)2 (h) (2s − 5r)2

7. Expand and simplify:

(a) (4x + 3)(6x + 4) + (3x + 2)(8x + 5)
(b) (4x + 3)(6x + 4) − (3x + 2)(8x + 5)

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 8.7 Substitution into algebraic expressions
1. In question 2 you have to find the values of different expressions, for some given
values of x. Look carefully at the different expressions in the table. Do you think
some of them may be equivalent?
Simplify the longer expression to check whether you end up with the shorter expression.

2. Copy and complete the following table:

x 13 −13 2,5 10
(a) (2x + 3)(3x − 5)
(b) 10x2 + 5x − 7 + 3x2 − 4x − 3
(c) 3(10x2 − 5x + 2) − 5x(6x − 4)
(d) 13x2 + x − 10
(e) 6x2 − x − 15
(f) 5x + 6

3. Copy and complete the following table:

x 1 2 3 4
(a) (2x + 3)(5x − 3) + (10x + 9)(1 − x)
9 x2 + 30 x
(b)
3x
(c) 3x(10x − 5) − 5x(6x − 4)
(d) 5x(4x + 3) − 2x(7 + 13x) + 2x(3x + 2)

4. Describe any patterns that you observe in your answers for question 3.

5. Copy and complete the following table:

x 1,5 2,5 3,5 4,5

(a) (2x + 3)(5x − 3) + (10x + 9)(1 − x)
9 x2 + 30 x
(b)
3x
(c) 3x(10x − 5) − 5x(6x − 4)
(d) 5x(4x + 3) − 2x(7 + 13x) + 2x(3x + 2)

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Chapter 9
Equations

9.1 Solving equations by inspection

1. Six equations are listed in the table below. Use the “Searching” for the solution
table to find out for which of the given values of of an equation by using
x will be true that the left-hand side of the tables is called solution by
equation is equal to the right-hand side. inspection.

x −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
2x + 3 −3 −1 1 3 5 7 9 11
x+4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9−x 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
3x − 2 −11 −8 −5 −2 1 4 7 10
10x − 7 −37 −27 −17 −7 3 13 23 33
5x + 3 −12 −7 −2 3 8 13 18 23
10 − 3x 19 16 13 10 7 4 1 −2

(a) 2x + 3 = 5x + 3 (b) 5x + 3 = 9 − x (c) 2x + 3 = x + 4

(d) 10x − 7 = 5x + 3 (e) 3x − 2 = x + 4 (f) 9 − x = 2x + 3

Two equations can have the same solution. Two equations are called
For example, 5x = 10 and x + 2 = 4 have the same equivalent if they have the
solution; x = 2 is the solution for both equations. same solution.

2. Which of the equations in question 1 have the same solutions? Explain.

9.2 Solving equations using additive and multiplicative

inverses
1. In each case find the value of x:

x +7
(a) (b)
10 x ×2 +3 13

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 2. Copy and complete the flow diagrams. Fill in all the missing numbers.

(a) 10
To find the second input
12 number you may say to
15 +7 yourself, “After I added 7,
I had 12. What did I have
3 before I added 7?”

14

(b) 1
To find the input number
7 that corresponds to 13, you
may ask yourself, “What did
3 ×2 +3 I have before I added 3?” and
then, “What did I have before
11
I multiplied by 2?”
13

3. Use your answers for question 2 to check your answers for question 1.

4. Describe the instructions in flow diagram 2(b) in words, and also with a symbolic
expression.
5. Copy and complete the following flow diagram:

7 This flow diagram is called

9 –3 ÷2 the inverse of the flow
diagram in question 2(b).
11

13

6. Compare the input numbers and the output numbers of the flow diagrams in
question 2(b) and question 5. What do you notice?

7. (a) Add 5 to any number and then subtract 5 from your answer. What do you get?
(b) Multiply any number by 10 and then divide the answer by 10. What do you get?

If you add a number and then subtract the same number,

you are back where you started. This is why addition and
subtraction are called inverse operations.
If you multiply by a number and then divide by the
same number, you are back where you started. This is why
multiplication and division are called inverse operations.

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The expression 5x − 3 says “multiply by 5 then subtract 3”. This instruction can also be
given with a flow diagram: ×5 –3
The equation 5x − 3 = 47 can also be written as a flow diagram:
×5 –3 47

8. Solve the equations below. You may do this by using the inverse operations. You may
write a flow diagram to help you to see the operations.
(a) 2x + 5 = 23 (b) 3x − 5 = 16
1
(c) 5x − 60 = −5 (d) x + 11 = 19
3
(e) 10(x + 3) = 88 (f) 2(x − 13) = 14

9.3 Setting up equations

Constructing equations
You can easily make an equation that has 5 as the solution. Here is an example:

Start by writing the solution x = 5

Add 3 to both sides x+3 = 8
Multiply both sides by 5 5x + 15 = 40

1. What is the solution of the equation 5x + 15 = 40?

2. Make your own equation with the solution x = 3.

3. Bongile worked like this to make the equation 2(x + 8) = 30, but he rubbed out part of
his work:
Start by writing the solution x =
Add 8 to both sides = 15
Multiply both sides by 2 2(x + 8) = 30
Copy and complete Bongile’s writing to solve the equation 2(x + 8) = 30.

4. This is how Bongile made a more difficult equation:

Start by writing the solution x =
Multiply by 3 on both sides 3x =
Subtract 9 from both sides 3x − 9 = 6
Add 2x to both sides 5x − 9 = 2x + 6

(a) What was on the right-hand side before Bongile subtracted 9?

(b) What is the solution of 5x − 9 = 2x + 6?

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 5. Bongile started with a solution and he ended up with an equation. Write down the
steps that Bongile took to make the equation, and solve the equation:

x =
8x =
8x + 3 =
3x + 3 = 35 − 5x

solving equations

To make an equation, To solve an equation, you

you can apply the same can apply the inverse
operation on both sides. operation on both sides.
x = 4
Multiply by 8 8x = 32 Divide by 8
Add 3 8x + 3 = 35 Subtract 3
Subtract 5x 3x + 3 = 35 − 5x Add 5x

Use any appropriate method to solve the following equations:

1. (a) 5x + 3 = 24 − 2x (b) 2x + 4 = −9
(c) 3 − x = x − 3 (d) 6(2x + 1) = 0
2. (a) 4(1 − 2x) = 12 − 7x (b) 8(1 − 3x) = 5(4x + 6)
(c) 7x − 10 = 3x + 7 (d) 1,6x + 7 = 3,5x + 3,2

number patterns and equations

1. (a) Which of the following rules will produce the number pattern given in the
second row of the table below?
A. Term value = 8n where n is the term number
B. Term value = 6n − 1 where n is the term number
C. Term value = 6n + 2 where n is the term number
D. Term value = 10n − 2 where n is the term number
E. Term value = 5n + 3 where n is the term number

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Term value 8 13 18 23 28 33 38 43 48

(b) The sixth term of the sequence has the value 33. Which term will have the value
143? You may set up and solve an equation to find out.
(c) Apply rule E to your answer, to check if your answer is correct.

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2. (a) Write the rule that will produce the number pattern in the second row of this
table. You may have to experiment to find out what the rule is.

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Term value 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 29

(b) Which term will have the value 221?

3. The rule for number pattern A is 4n + 11, and the rule for pattern B is 7n − 34.
(a) Copy and complete the following table for the two patterns:

Term number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Pattern A
Pattern B

(b) For which value of n are the terms of the two patterns equal?

9.4 Equation and situations

1. Consider this situation:
To rent a room in a certain building, you have to pay a deposit of R400 and then R80 per day.
(a) How much money do you need to rent the room for ten days?
(b) How much money do you need to rent the room for 15 days?

2. Which of the following best describes the method that you used to do question 1(a)
and (b)?
A. Total cost = R400 + R80
B. Total cost = 400(number of days + 80)
C. Total cost = 80 × number of days + 400
D. Total cost = (80 + 400) × number of days

3. For how many days can you rent the room described in question 1, if you have
R2 800 to pay?

If you want to know for how many days you can rent the room if you have R720, you can
set up an equation and solve it.
Example: You know the total cost is R720 and you know that you can work out the
total cost like this:
Total cost = 80x + 400, where x is the number of days.
So, 80x + 400 = 720 and x = four days.

In each of the cases on page 90 (given in questions 4 to 7), find the unknown number by
setting up an equation and solving it.

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 4. To rent a certain room, you have to pay a deposit of R300 and then R120 per day.
(a) For how many days can you rent the room if you can pay a total of R1 740?
(If you experience trouble in setting up the equation, it may help you to decide
first how you will work out what it will cost to rent the room for six days.)
(b) What will it cost to rent the room for ten days, 11 days and 12 days?
(c) For how many days can you rent the room if you have R3 300 available?
(d) For how many days can you rent the room if you have R3 000 available?

5. Ben and Thabo decide to do some calculations with a certain number. Ben multiplies
the number by 5 and adds 12. Thabo gets the same answer as Ben when he multiplies
the number by 9 and subtracts 16. What is the number they worked with?

6. The cost of renting a certain car for a period of x days can be calculated with the
following formula:
Rental cost in rands = 260x + 310
What information about renting this car will you get, if you solve the equation
260x + 310 = 2 910?

7. Sarah paid a deposit of R320 for a stall at a market, and she also pays R70 per day
rental for the stall. She sells fruit and vegetables at the stall, and finds that she makes
about R150 profit each day. After how many days will she have earned as much as she
has paid for the stall, in total?

9.5 Solving equations by using the laws of exponents

You may need to look back at Chapter 5 to remember the laws of exponents.
One kind of exponential equation that you deal with in Grade 9 has one or more terms
with a base that is raised to a power containing a variable.
Example: 2x = 16

When we need to find the unknown value, we are

asking the question: “To what power must the base be
raised for the statement to be true?”

Example: 2x = 16 Make sure that the terms with x are on their own on one side.
2 =2 x 4
Write the known term in the same base as the term with
the exponent.
x=4 Equate the exponents.

In the example above, we can equate the exponents because the two numbers are equal
only when they are raised to the same power.

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1. Solve for x:
(a) 5x − 1 = 125 (b) 2x + 3 = 8
(c) 10x = 10 000 (d) 4x + 2 = 64
(e) 7x + 1 = 1 (f) x0 = 1

1
Example: Solve for x: 3x =
27
1
3x = 3−3 (Rewrite as a number to base 3.)
27
x = −3 (Equate the exponents.)

2. Solve for x:
1 1
(a) 7x = (b) 10x = 0,001 (c) 6x =
49 216
1
(d) 10x − 1 = 0,001 (e) 4−x = (f) 7x = 7 −3
16

In another kind of equation involving exponents, the variable is in the base.

When we need to find the unknown value, we ask the

question: “Which number must be raised to the given
power for the statement to be true?”

For these equations, you should remember what you know about the powers of numbers
such as 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10.

SOLVING EQUATIONS WITH A VARIABLE IN THE BASE

1. Copy and complete the table below and answer the questions that follow:

x 2 3 4 5
(a) x3 23 = 8
(b) x5 25 = 32
(c) x4 24 = 16

For what value of x is:

(a) x3 = 64 (b) x5 = 32 (c) x4 = 256
(d) x3 = 8 (e) x4 = 16 (f) x5 = 3 125

2. Solve for x and give a reason:

(a) x3 = 216 (b) x2 = 324
(c) x4 = 10 000 (d) 8x = 512
(e) 18x = 324 (f) 6x = 216

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 Worksheet

1. Ahmed multiplied a number by 5, added 3 to the answer, and then subtracted the
number he started with. The answer was 11. What number did he start with?

2. Use any appropriate method to solve the equations:

(a) 3(x − 2) = 4(x + 1) (b) 5(x + 2) = −3(2 − x)
(c) 1,5x = 0,7x − 24 (d) 5(x + 3) = 5x + 12
(e) 2,5x = 0,5(x + 10) (f) 7(x − 2) = 7(2 − x)
1
(g) (2x − 3) = 5 (h) 2x − 3(3 + x) = 5x + 9
2

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