User: What is the reason for using "letters" in algebraic problems? Why is such a thing needed?

Note: the represent variables... meaning, substitutions for the real number... [ that way you can write out equations without having the number and thats benificial because the same equation could give you the answer for many problems the letter represents an unknown variable. For example, lets say there is a basket of apples. We don't know how many apples were in the basket to begin with, but we know that Billy ate 4 of them and we can count that there are now 6 left. So we can't put a number on the amount in the apples so we call it by a variable letter, a. a = the number of apples originally in basket. So if we want to know the number of apples that were originally in the basket we know that a - 4 = 6 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120201101205AA7dcHH ]
Auto answered|Score 1|thewolf010|Points 280|

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Weegy: Basic Algebra - Why Are There Letters in My Math?? Why Are There Letters? Remember when you had math problems like this: 3 + = 10 This problem could be read, “Three plus something equals 10.” Algebra uses letters to replace the . [ So the same problem can be written like this: 3 + x = 10 The problem could be read, “Three plus something equals 10.” or “Three plus x equals 10.” The “x” just stands for “something”. We used x here, but we could use any letter. The letter is called the variable. In algebra, our goal is to find out what number can replace the variable to make the equation true. In the example above, we know that 3 + 7 = 10. So the answer would be x = 7. (Replacing the x with a 7 makes the equation true.) ]
Expert answered|lragland|Points 0|