Prealgebra

This is the starting rung of the mathematics ladder: the foundations of arithmetic and the first ideas of algebra. It assumes no prior coursework and builds toward Algebra.

Chapters

This book is organized into chapters, each broken into short sections you can work through in order.

• Whole Numbers — counting, place value, and the four operations.
• The Language of Algebra — variables, expressions, and how we write math.
• Integers — signed numbers, absolute value, integer operations, and equations involving integers.
• Fractions — visualizing, comparing, and computing with fractions and mixed numbers.
• Decimals — reading, rounding, comparing, and computing with decimals, plus conversions, ratios, and rates.
• Percents — connecting percents with fractions and decimals and solving common percent applications.
• The Properties of Real Numbers — rational and irrational numbers and the properties used to simplify expressions.
• Solving Linear Equations — equality properties, multi-step equations, formulas, proportions, and equation-solving strategy.
• Math Models and Geometry — translating applications into equations and working with angles, polygons, circles, area, and volume.
• Polynomials — exponent rules, scientific notation, and operations with polynomial expressions.
• Graphs — the coordinate plane, linear equations, intercepts, and slope.

About this edition

This book is adapted from OpenStax Prealgebra 2e, used under the terms of its Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Reviewers who vet or adapt this material are credited in the reviewed_by field of each page.