AI Tutor
Imagine your friend says, "I have five more dollars than whatever is in my piggy bank." How would you write that as math?
Math is its own language, and an algebraic expression is a mathematical phrase made of numbers, operation symbols, and variables (letters that represent unknown numbers).
Which everyday English words tell us to add, and which tell us to subtract?

Clue Words for Addition

Words like sum, plus, increased by, more than, and total all signal addition.
Because addition is commutative—meaning 3+53 + 5 equals 5+35 + 3—the order of the terms does not change the final value, though writing them in order builds great habits.
Addition is easy to order, but what happens when words describe taking something away?

Clue Words for Subtraction

Words like difference, minus, decreased by, less than, and subtracted from all signal subtraction.
Unlike addition, subtraction is not commutative: 10−410 - 4 is 66, but 4−104 - 10 is −6-6, so the order of your terms changes everything.