What is the difference between equation and expression

An expression is a combination of numbers, variables, and symbols to be calculated. An equation contains expressions that are separated by an equals sign. The only way that you solve this expression is that you need to know what the variables represent. In either of these expressions all you have to do is define the variables and using PEMDAS simplify and solve the problem.

So let's solve the expression:. An equation is the combination of two expressions that are separated by an equals sign. An equation can either be a condition or identity. The conditional equation is where the equality of two expressions is true for a definite value of the variable involved. The identity equation is where the equality is true for all the values held by the variable.

Expressions and equations are quite common when learning some common concepts of mathematics not in grade school level. There are no equal signs! This is what makes writing expressions different from writing equations. Both equations and expressions can have variables, coefficients , whole numbers, decimals, exponents, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. But unlike expressions, algebraic equations must always include an equal sign:.

As you can see in the simple equations above, there are two sides of the equation: a right and a left side. So technically, an equation is made of two expressions. The equal sign establishes the two sides of the equation as equivalent expressions. Now that we know the difference between expressions and equations, let's learn how to simplify them. Simplifying an equation means rewriting the expressions so you can solve for the value of the variable in question.