4.6Formal Charges and Resonance
Section · module m68740
What this needs
Learn these first — this section will not make sense without them.
Nothing in the algebra book is a prerequisite for this section.
What this touches
Algebra that turns up here. Not a blocker, but this is where you will see it used.
Formal charge = (valence electrons) − (lone-pair electrons) − ½(bonding electrons) only halves the last term, not the whole expression — computing (V − L − B)/2 instead of V − L − (B/2) is the order-of-operations error this specific formula shape invites, and it silently changes which atom the negative formal charge lands on.