ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS

Set
It is a collection of objects of some type, and the objects are called the elements of
the set. Capital letters

R ,

S ,

a ,

x ,

y , . . . usually represents elements of sets.

lowercase letters

T , . . . are often used to denote sets, and

and

are equal, denoted by

same elements. If

and

Two sets

If the elements of a set

as

S= { x : }

S=T , is S and T contain exactly the

are not equal, it is denoted by

S T .

have a certain property, the set is sometimes written

in which property describing the variable

is stated after the colon.

The expression involving the braces and the colon is read the set of all

such

that . . ., where the phrase is competed by stating the desired property. For
example,

S= { x : x>3 }

is read S

is the set of all

such that

is greater

than 3.
For finite sets, the elements of the set are listed within the braces. For example, if

the set

consists of the first five positive integers, then

may be written as

T ={ 1,2,3,4,5 } . The order used in listing the elements is irrelevant, so

T ={ 1,2,3,4,5 } ,

expressed by

Notation or
Terminology

Meaning

Illustration

3Z
a

is an element of

aS

is not an element of

is a subset of

may be

T ={ 2,5, 3,4, 1 } , and so on.

aS

S T

Every element of
element of

where

denotes the set of

integers

is an

2
Z
5
Z R , where

denotes the set of real

numbers

Constant

Variable

A letter or symbol that

represents a specific element
of a set
A letter or symbol that
represents any element of a
set

5 ,
Let

2 ,
x

denote any

real number

Algebraic Expression
It is the result obtained by applying additions, subtractions, multiplications,
divisions, powers or the taking of roots to any collection of variables and real
numbers. The value of an algebraic expression is the number resulted from the
substitution of specific numbers for the variables present in the given algebraic
expression. The domain of an algebraic expression consists of all real numbers that
may represent the variables.

If

is a variable, then a monomial in

where

is a real number and

is an expression of the form

a xn ,

is a nonnegative integer. A binomial is a sum

of two monomials, and a trinomial is the sum of three monomials. A polynomial in

is a sum of any number of monomials in

x , or is a sum of the form

an x n+ an1 x n1 ++a1 x+ a0
where

is a nonnegative integer and each coefficient

an 0 , then the polynomial is said to have a degree

Illustration

ak

is a real number. If

n .

Domain

Typical Value
At

x 35 x+

6
x

2 xy + ( 3 / x 2 )

All

All

x0

x=4 :

x> 0

( 4 )35 ( 4 ) +
and all

y1

At

x=1

6
=47
4

and

y=9 :

y 1
2 ( 1 ) ( 9 ) + ( 3 /( 1 )2 )
3

( 9 ) 1

21
2

ak x k

Each expression

ak

in the sum is a term of the polynomial. The coefficient

of the highest power of

is called the leading coefficient of the

polynomial.
Polynomial

Leading
Coefficient

Degree

3 x 4 +5 x3 + (7 ) x+ 4

x 8+ 9 x 2 + (2 ) x

5 x 2 +1

7 x+ 2

Two polynomials are equal if and only if they have the same degree and the
coefficients of like powers of

are equal. If all the coefficients of a polynomial are

zero, it is called zero polynomial and is denoted by

0 . The degree of the zero

polynomial is not zero, by convention, but is undefined instead. If

real number, then

is a polynomial of degree

is a nonzero

0 . Such polynomials (together

with the zero polynomial) are constant polynomials.

Polynomial in

may be regarded as an algebraic expression obtained by

employing a finite number of additions, subtractions and multiplications involving

x . If an algebraic expression contains divisions or roots involving a variable

then it is not a polynomial in

x . Examples are, and

Examples of
Nonpolynomials

x ,

1
+3 x
x
x 5
x 2 +2
2

3 x + x2