Equation Definition

In this section, we start digging into the basics of Algebra 1 and introduce the Equation. What is an Equation in Math? What is the Definition of an Equation? How do we tell the difference between an equation and an algebraic expression? When we have an equation, we have two algebraic expressions that are separated by an equals sign. This equation can be solved and the answer can be checked. When we have an algebraic expression, there is no equality symbol. We only gain a value for the algebraic expression if a value for the variable is given. In this case only, we can substitute in for the variable and obtain a value for the algebraic expression. We then move on and learn how to determine if a given value is a solution to an equation. We do this by replacing the variable in the equation with our proposed solution. If after simplifying, the left and the right side are equal, meaning the same value, then our proposed solution is an actual solution.