How to play Formula Balance
- Choose a formula. The goal tells you which letter to isolate.
- Look at what is done to that letter: is it multiplied, divided, squared, or halved?
- Undo each operation with its inverse, on both sides: ÷ undoes ×, × undoes ÷, and √ undoes a square.
- When the letter stands alone, press Weigh. A true equation stays level; a step done to one side only tips it.
An equation is a balance
An equation says that two quantities are equal, like the two pans of a level balance. You may change it in any way that keeps that true: multiply or divide both sides by the same thing, square both sides, or take the square root of both. To isolate a letter, undo what is done to it with inverse operations: division undoes multiplication, multiplication undoes division, and a square root undoes a square. Doing something to one side only changes the value of that side and breaks the equation.
A focused learning model
Each side of an equation is a number times letters raised to powers. The letters carry the values of one real situation, so the balance compares two numbers. The beam swings with a damped motion toward an angle set by the difference between the sides, and the weighing ends exactly after 4 s. All values are positive, so a square root is always allowed.