This lesson will use the substitution property to determine solutions to equations and inequalities. The students will be given a replacement set of values. The student will check the values to determine if the result is true or false. The values that are true will be the solution. The student will graph the inequality solutions on the number line.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
Solve an inequality that has negative numbers and a variable. This video focuses on using inverse operations to solve for a variable and the importance of flipping the inequality when multiplying or dividing by a negative number. This video was submitted through the Innovation Math Challenge, a contest open to professional and nonprofessional producers.
Students write and evaluate expressions and formulas in Module 4, Topic F. They use variables to write expressions and evaluate those expressions when given the value of the variable (6.EE.A.2). From there, students create formulas by setting expressions equal to another variable. For example, if there are 4 bags containing c colored cubes in each bag with 3 additional cubes, students use this information to express the total number of cubes as 4c + 3. From this expression, students develop the formula t = 4c + 3, where t is the total number of cubes. Once provided with a value for the amount of cubes in each bag (c = 12 cubes), students can evaluate the formula for t: t = 4(12) = 3, t = 48 + 3, t = 51. Students continue to evaluate given formulas such as the volume of a cube, V = s3 given the side length, or the volume of a rectangular prism, V = lwh given those dimensions (6.EE.A.2c).
In Module 4, Topic G, students are introduced to the fact that equations have a structure similar to some grammatical sentences. Some sentences are true: “George Washington was the first president of the United States.” or “2 + 3 = 5.” Some are clearly false: “Benjamin Franklin was a president of the United States.” or “7 + 3 = 5.” Sentences that are always true or always false are called closed sentences. Some sentences need additional information to determine whether they are true or false. The sentence “She is 42 years old” can be true or false depending on who “she” is. Similarly, the sentence “x + 3 = 5” can be true or false depending on the value of x. Such sentences are called open sentences. An equation with one or more variables is an open sentence. The beauty of an open sentence with one variable is that if the variable is replaced with a number, then the new sentence is no longer open: it is either clearly true or clearly false. For example, for the open sentence x + 3 = 5:
If x is replaced by 7, the new closed sentence, 7 +3 = 5 is false because 10 ≠ 5.
If x is replaced by 2, the new closed sentence, 2 + 3 = 5 is true because 5 = 5.
From here, students conclude that solving an equation is the process of determining the number(s) that, when substituted for the variable, result in a true sentence (6.EE.B.5). In the previous example, the solution for x + 3 = 5 is obviously 2. The extensive use of bar diagrams in Grades K–5 makes solving equations in Topic G a fun and exciting adventure for students. Students solve many equations twice, once with a bar diagram and once using algebra. They use identities and properties of equality that were introduced earlier in the module to solve one-step, two-step, and multistep equations. Students solve problems finding the measurements of missing angles represented by letters (4.MD.C.7) using what they learned in Grade 4 about the four operations and what they now know about equations.
