The coordinate grid is composed of a horizontal x-axis and a vertical y-axis. The center of the grid, where the x-axis and y-axis meet, is called the origin.

A line on the coordinate grid can be defined by a slope-intercept equation: y = mx + b. For a given value of x, the value of y can be determined given the slope (m) and y-intercept (b) of the line. The slope of a line is change in y over change in x, \({\Delta y \over \Delta x}\), and the y-intercept is the y-coordinate where the line crosses the vertical y-axis.

The area of a parallelogram is equal to its length x width:

a = l x w
a = a x b
a = 2 x 3
a = 6

The surface area of a cylinder is 2πr² + 2πrh:

sa = 2πr² + 2πrh
sa = 2π(9²) + 2π(9 x 9)
sa = 2π(81) + 2π(81)
sa = (2 x 81)π + (2 x 81)π
sa = 162π + 162π
sa = 324π

An equation is two expressions separated by an equal sign. The key to solving equations is to repeatedly do the same thing to both sides of the equation until the variable is isolated on one side of the equal sign and the answer on the other.