Sometimes you just gotta follow the stinking rules.

Yes, there comes a time in everyone’s life when mom and dad are out of the picture, and there’s nobody making you clean your room or surrender your cell phone until your homework’s done. But when it comes to Algebra, rules are a good thing. They’ll keep you from getting the wrong answer. In fact, lots of times, rules will help you solve for an unknown without a lot of extra work. Leave your dunce cap behind for this chapter because we’ll be following a few handy rules all the way to a perfect score.