Why do we use algebra?

Algebra is a very good way of generalising a particular scenario. For example, if you get a weekly allowance of £5 for leisure you can make an equation to calculate the amount of money you can save up in n weeks, n being a whole number which signifies the amount of weeks. The equation would be x=5n, x being the total money you would earn in 5 weeks (make sure you put the £ sign in your answer!). We can then use algebra to express more complex scenarios.