formula manipulation?

Question

can you please help me on manipulating formulas?or give me some sites that could help perhaps?

Answer 1

Manipulating equations is probably one of the most important skills to master. I have cited an excellent document that addresses your question in the sources section below. After reading it I believe you will have a much clearer understanding of the basic procedures needed.

Answer 2

Manipulating a formula is like doing an algebra problem.

If you have
F = m*a

You can solve for a by dividing both sides by m:
F / m = m*a / m

The two m's on the right cancel, since one is in the numerator and one in the denominator:
F / m = a

And now we have "a" by itself.


Here's a second example. If we had the formula
a + b^2 - 3 = c

and we wanted to solve for b, we try to get b by itself:

There's an "a" on the same side as b, so we need to get rid of it. But to make sure both sides stay equal, we have to do the same exact thing to each side. So, we subtract a from each side:
a + b^2 - 3 - a = c - a

Now we have a minus a on the left side, so they cancel:
b^2 - 3 = c - a

Get rid of the -3 by adding +3 to both sides:
b^2 - 3 + 3 = c - a + 3

The -3 and +3 add to zero and go away:
b^2 = c - a + 3

Now we have a b^2. To undo the squaring operation, we take the square root:
sqrt(b^2) = sqrt(c - a + 3)

The square root of a squared quantity is just the quantity itself, so:
b = sqrt(c - a + 3)

We have thus solved for b.