Articles & Books From Basic Math

Fractions For Dummies
An easy, straightforward, and fun guide for learning fractions and its counterparts Fractions For Dummies is the perfect strategy guide for both understanding and using one of math's most common (and most challenging) topic areas. You'll explore current solving strategies for fraction-related problems, and you'll also discover how to solve problems involving fractions' closely related cousins, decimals and percentages.
Article / Updated 03-20-2024
Fractions, decimals, and percents are the three most common ways to give a mathematical description of parts of a whole object. Fractions are common in baking and carpentry when you're using English measurement units (such as cups, gallons, feet, and inches). Decimals are used with dollars and cents, the metric system, and in scientific notation.
Article / Updated 03-20-2024
The Big Four math operations — addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division — let you combine numbers and perform calculations. Certain operations possess properties that enable you to manipulate the numbers in the problem, which comes in handy, especially when you get into higher math like algebra. The important properties you need to know are the commutative property, the associative property, and the distributive property.
Article / Updated 03-20-2024
The English system of measurements is most commonly used in the United States. In contrast, the metric system is used throughout most of the rest of the world. Converting measurements between the English and metric systems is a common everyday reason to know math. This article gives you some precise metric-to-English conversions, as well as some easy-to-remember conversions that are good enough for most situations.
Article / Updated 03-20-2024
Exponents, radicals, and absolute value are mathematical operations that go beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They are useful in more advanced math, such as algebra, but they also have real-world applications, especially in geometry and measurement.Exponents (powers) are repeated multiplication: When you raise a number to the power of an exponent, you multiply that number by itself the number of times indicated by the exponent.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-14-2023
Some of the most important things to remember in AS-level and A-level maths are the rules for differentiating and integrating expressions. This cheat sheet is a handy reference for what happens when you differentiate or integrate powers of x, trigonometric functions, exponentials or logarithms – as well as the rules you need for what to do when they’re combined!
Article / Updated 08-07-2023
To find the volume of a prism or cylinder, you can use the following formula, where Ab is the area of the base and h is the height: V = Ab x h Practice questions Find the volume of a prism with a base that has an area of 6 square centimeters and a height of 3 centimeters. Figure out the approximate volume of a cylinder whose base has a radius of 7 millimeters and whose height is 16 millimeters.
Article / Updated 07-10-2023
Cross-multiplication is a handy tool for finding the common denominator for two fractions, which is important for many operations involving fractions. In the following practice questions, you are asked to cross-multiply to compare fractions to find out which is greater or less. Practice questions 1. Find the lesser fraction: 2.
Article / Updated 07-10-2023
Some expressions contain only multiplication and division. When this is the case, the rule for evaluating the expression is pretty straightforward. When an expression contains only multiplication and division, evaluate it step by step from left to right. The Three Types of Big Four Expressions Expression Example Rule Contains only addition and subtraction 12 + 7 – 6 – 3 + 8 Evaluate left to right.
Article / Updated 06-28-2023
When dealing with simple algebraic expressions, you don't always need algebra to solve them. The following practice questions ask you to use three different methods: inspecting, rewriting the problem, and guessing and checking. Practice questions In the following questions, solve for x in each case just by looking at the equation.