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Evaluating expressions worksheets

Before a letter can be solved for, it has to be substituted. These free printable worksheets give an expression and a value for the variable and ask what the expression comes to — the first thing a child does with algebra that has a definite answer.

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Evaluating expressions
Evaluating expressions worksheet — One variable, values to 50, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

Substitution is where the letter stops being mysterious. 3x + 4 with x = 5 is 19, and there is nothing to rearrange or balance: put the number in, then do the arithmetic in the right order. Getting comfortable here is what makes solving an equation feel like a fair next step rather than a new subject.

Why this sheet works

Order of operations does most of the work. 3x + 4 means three lots of x and then add four, not add four and then triple — and a child who evaluates left to right will get 27 and be sure of it. Half of what this sheet checks is arithmetic order wearing an algebraic hat.

How this one works

One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.

x² + 12, x = 6

x² + 12withx = 6
6 × 6=36
36+12=48
x² + 12=48
  1. A letter is a number that has not been written down yet, and this question writes it down: x = 6. So put the value in where the letter is — in BRACKETS, which keeps whatever was being done to the letter being done to the number.
  2. x² means x times ITSELF, not x times 2 — that is the mistake this shape is here to catch. 6 × 6 = 36.
  3. Then add the 12: 36 + 12 = 48.
  4. So x² + 12 is 48 when x = 6.

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