A1.

ALGEBRA

In using letters and other symbols as you were in the last section you were doing
algebra.

Algebra uses other symbols as well as numbers.

The symbols often stand for numbers, but they may stand for anything.
Someone decides what they stand for, either you or someone else.

Suppose u stands for the length of the line:

Then this will be 2u.

And this will be 3u.

 Write down the length of the line in each of the following.

a b c d

g
e f



4B4 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

Now here is another length.
The length of this half circle is called v:

Then this is 2v.

And this is 3v

 Write down the lengths of the following.

a b

c d



4B4 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

 Now suppose that the length of is

u, And the length of is v.

Then the total length of the lines in will be u + v.

And the length of all the lines in this will be 4u + 2v.

 In the same way write down the total length of all the lines in each of the
following.

a b c

d e f

7E6 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

 A2. EQUATIONS

Another use of algebra is when we are given an equation which contains a letter, and
we are asked to find the value that the letter represents.

ONE-STEP EQUATIONS

If, for example, we are given the equation x + 5 = 8 we need to know what x can be
so that when 5 is added to it, the total is 8.
This is clearly 3 because 3 + 5 = 8. So we say x=3

EXAMPLE
Solve the equation 9 + x = 20.
Again it is not difficult to see that x=11 because 9+11=20.

You may have noticed in these two examples that you can get the answer by taking the
number next to the x from the number on the other side of the equals sign.

EXAMPLE
Solve x + 39 = 70.
So to solve this equation we just take 39 from 70, so x=31

EXAMPLE

Solve x - 7 = 8.
This says that when 7 is subtracted from a number we get 8.
What is the number?
We get x=15 since 15-7=8.

Notice again that we can get the answer easily, this time by adding the 7 to the 8.

EXAMPLE
Solve x - 13 = 30.
We find x = 43

7E6 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

So for equations like x + 6 = 7 or 6 + x = 7 we take the number on the left from the
number on the right.
And for equations like x – 6 = 7 we add the number on the left to the number on the
right.

The Vedic formula used here is Transpose and Apply.

Transpose means "reverse" and in solving equations Transpose and Apply means :

where something is added to the x-term: subtract,

where something is subtracted from the x-term: add.

EXERCISE

Solve the following equations, check each answer to make sure it is right:
a x + 3 = 10 b x – 3 = 10 c x + 4 = 11

d 20 + x = 100 e x–6=2 f x – 15 = 7

g x – 19 = 44 h x + 88 = 100 i x – 3½ = 4½

j x + 16 = 60 k x + 123 = 1000 l x – 18 = 18

m x + 1.3 = 5

7E6 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

 EXAMPLE
Solve 3x = 15
This says that 3 times a number is 15, so the answer is clearly 5, as 3 fives make 15.
So we write x = 5.

EXAMPLE

Solve 7x = 28.
x = 4 (since 7 fours make 28).





Again you may notice that the easy way to get the answer is to divide the number
on the right by the number on the left: 15÷3=5 and 28÷7=4.
So the Transpose and Apply formula is working here too: where x is multiplied by a number we
divide. Divide is the opposite of multiply.

And if x is divided by a number we would expect to multiply:

EXAMPLE
x
Solve = 7.

So x must be 3×7. x = 21
21
We can see this is right because = 7.

EXAMPLE

= 30. Since 23×30=690 we can say x = 690

23

EXERCISE

Solve the following, checking your answer each time.

a 3x = 21 b 5x = 35 c 2x = 26

7E6 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

d 4x = 36 e 6x = 54 f 3x = 960

g 2x = 76 h 40x = 120 i 3x = 333

j 7x = 98 k 2½x=10 l 3½x=21

x x x
m =5 n =8 o =3
4 3 13

A3. TWO-STEP EQUATIONS

We have seen how the Transpose and Apply formula can be used in solving

equations. Sometimes two or more applications of the formula are needed, as the

following examples show.

EXAMPLE

Solve 2x + 3 = 13.
Can you see what x is here? A number is doubled and three is added and the result is 13.

You can first take 3 from both sides of the equation: this gives 2x = 10.
Then you can see that x = 5 is the answer.

To check: 2×5 + 3 = 13 so it is correct.

There are two applications of Transpose and Apply here:
First the +3 indicates that we subtract 3 from 13 (to get 10),
then the 2x indicates that we divide 10 by 2.

EXAMPLE

Solve 5x - 4 = 36.
Using the Sutra we add 4 to 36 to get 40,
then 40÷5 = 8, so x = 8

Check: 5×8 - 4 = 36.

7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

If you like you can write the sum out in steps like this: 5x – 4 = 36
5x = 40
x=8
But you should also be able to put the answer straight down.

7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

 EXAMPLE
x
Solve + 3 = 5.

Here we take 3 from 5 to get 2,

then multiply 2 by 7, so x = 14

EXAMPLE
2x
Solve = 4.

Multiply 3 by 4 to get 12,

then 12÷2=6, so x = 6

EXAMPLE
x3
Solve = 5.

Because all the left side is divided by 4 we begin by multiplying 5 by 4,

then we add 3 to the result giving x = 23





It is useful to think of a pair of scales when solving equations:

2x + 3 = 13
2x+ 3 13

Because the two sides of the equation are equal, they balance.
And they will still balance if we add the same amount to each side, or subtract the
same amount from each side:

take 3 from both

2x 10 sides to get 2x = 10

7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

And they will still balance if we double each side, or multiply both sides by any
number, or divide both sides by any number:

halve both
sides to get x
=5

EXERCISE

Solve the following equations mentally. Check your answers.

a 3x + 7 = 19 b 2x + 11 = 21 c 3x + 5 = 29 d 7x + 10 = 31

e 4x – 5 = 7 f 3x – 8 = 10 g 5x – 21 = 4 h 2x – 5 = 6

x x x
i +4=6 j +7=9 k –8=2 l –1=6
x 2 3
3
4

2x = 8 3x 5x 2x
m n = 15 o = 15 p = 20
3 4 3 5

7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY

 x4 x  21
q =5 r =1 s 2x + 1 = 3.8 t 3x + 2 = 6.11
7 10

A4. THREE-STEP EQUATIONS

Sometimes we need to take three steps to solve an equation.

EXAMPLE
3x
Solve + 4 = 10.

First 10 - 4 = 6, then 6×5 = 30, then 30÷3 = 10 so x = 10

EXAMPLE
3x  2
Solve = 8.
4
First 8×4 = 32, then 32-2 = 30, then 30÷3 = 10 so x = 10

EXAMPLE
Solve 2(3x + 4) = 38.
The bracket here indicates that 3x+4 is being multiplied by the number outside the bracket,
which is 2.
So we begin by dividing 38 by 2.
First 38÷2 = 19, then 19-4 = 15, then 15÷3 = 5 so x = 5

Alternatively, here, we can multiply the bracket out first:

If 2(3x + 4) = 38 then 6x + 8 = 38
and so 38-8 = 30 and 30÷6 = 5.

 Show that x=5 is the solution to 2(3x + 4) = 38.

EXERCISE

Solve the following:

2x 3x 7x 3x
a +4 = 8 b –4=5 c – 10 = 11 d +17 = 20
3 5 2 8
7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY
e 2x  1 = 4 f 2x  3 = 3 g 5x  2 = 9 h 6x  1 = 5
3 5 3 7

i 3(5x – 2) = 54 j 8(x + 3) = 64 k 3(7x – 3) = 33 l 2( 4x + 3) = 102

7F1 VEDIC MATHEMATICS ACADEMY