Initial algebra

Initial Algebra is a way of looking at numbers and shapes, and figuring out relationships between them. It is like playing with blocks: each block is either a number or a shape. Let's say you have some blocks that have 2 sides and 4 sides. You can figure out how many sides the blocks have in total by counting them up. That's like adding the numbers of sides together, so if you had two 2-sided blocks, the total number of sides would be 4. Initial Algebra helps you figure out more complicated equations, like when you want to figure out how many sides 3 blocks with 2 sides, 4 sides, and 6 sides would have, without counting them all up.