ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some notation and examines both arithmetic and algebraic processes. It helps the reader to approximate calculations to a given number of decimal places and to a given number of significant figures and apply the rules of elementary algebra correctly. The chapter also helps the reader to distinguish between identities and equations and evaluate binomial coefficients and apply the binomial theorem. To facilitate calculations of decimal fractions, scientific notation can be used. In the scientific notation, each number is written as a number greater than –10 but less than 10 and the decimal point is adjusted by multiplying or dividing by an appropriate power of 10. It is not normally possible to perform all calculations exactly. In such circumstances it is usual to perform arithmetic using numbers accurate to a fixed number of decimal places or a given number of significant figures.
