Translate verbal descriptions into algebraic expressions, including multi-operation phrases, and translate expressions back into words.
Certain words are signals for certain operations: "sum," "more than," and "increased by" mean addition; "difference," "less than," and "decreased by" mean subtraction; "product," "times," and "twice" mean multiplication; "quotient," "divided by," and "split into" mean division.
Watch out for "less than" and "subtracted from" - they REVERSE the order. "5 less than a number" is n − 5, not 5 − n.
For multi-step phrases, translate one piece at a time, and use parentheses when a phrase groups more than one operation together.
Mastery looks like: They translate multi-step verbal phrases into correct algebraic expressions and translate expressions back into words, handling "less than" correctly.
Common stumbles: Writing "5 − n" for "5 less than n" instead of "n − 5"; ignoring the grouping that a phrase with "the sum of" and "divided by" together requires.