Introduction

Many problems in engineering reduce to the solution of an equation or a set of equations. An equation is a type of mathematical expression which contains one or more unknown quantities which you will be required to find. In this Section we consider a particular type of equation which contains a single unknown quantity, and is known as a linear equation. Later Sections will describe techniques for solving other types of equations.

Prerequisites

• be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions
• be able to transpose formulae

Learning Outcomes

• recognise and solve a linear equation