Coefficient, Constant, Variable & Exponents ¦ Algebra Maths ¦FuseSchool

Equations are used everywhere: in computers, business, internet searches, medicine to name a few examples. Which is why we study them a lot in Maths.

We have names to describe the different parts: coefficients, variables, constants and exponents. A variable is a symbol for a number we don’t know yet. It is usually a letter. A number on it’s own is called a constant.

These are different to the numbers in front of variables: these are called coefficients. They are different to constants, because coefficients always multiply by a variable. A number and a letter is a coefficient and a variable. But a number on it’s own is a constant. If a variable doesn’t have a coefficient in front of it, it means the coefficient is 1.

But in algebra we don’t write the 1: 'a' instead of '1a'. Sometimes we can even have letters to represent coefficients: ax + by. Exponents tells us how many times to multiply the value by itself. The exponent has a few different names: exponent, index, power.

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