Algebra is the language through which we describe patterns. It's like a way of writing really long patterns that go on forever as something much smaller. As opposed to having to do something over and over again, algebra gives you a simple way to express that repetitive process. It's also seen as a "gatekeeper" subject.
In simple addition, what you did in elementary school, we learned to add all the numbers together to get a sum. In Pre-Algebra, numbers are sometimes attached to variables and we need to make sure that the variables are alike before we add the numbers. Can you figure out the pattern below?
