UNIT 7 ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION

structure Page No.

Introduction
Objectives
Communicating The Meaning Of Addition
-Developing An Understanding Of Subtraction
Relating ~ d d i t i o nAnd Subtraction
Problems With Applying Algorithms
Developing Estimation Skills
summary ,
Comments On Exercises

7.1 INTRODUCTION
When a child of seven isn't able to solve the sum 23+9, what could the reasons be? When
9
- 16 ? It could be because she
she is asked to subtract 9 from 16, why does she write -
13
hasn't understood one or more of the concepts / skills involved in the process of addition.
These are the ability to count, familiarity with numbers and numerals upto 100, an
understanding of place value, the concept of addition and the ability to apply the addition
algorithm with understanding. In Units 5 and 6 we have seen some ways of helping the
child to deal with problems related to number, numerals, counting and place value. In this
unit we concentrate on looking at ways of conveying the meaning and algorithms of
addition and subtraction to children.

We start the unit with a discussion on ways of developing an understanding of addition.

Then we do the same in the context of subtraction. We stress the fact that these operations
must be introduced to children using concrete objects to start with. They must be exposed
lo related word problems from the early stages on. And these operations should be
introduced to them more or less together.

Following this, we have discussed reasons for errors children make while mechanically
applying the algorithms. What comes out in this discussion is that, unfortunately, we
usually tend to identify addition or subtraction with the algorithm for doing them. We
ignore the fact that addition or subtraction involve an understanding of class inclusion, of
units of objects and the algorithms. All these aspects need to be understood by a child
before she can be said to 'know' these operations. In Sec. 7.5 we have talked of some ways
of remedying the situation.

And, finally, we have considered the importance of developing the child's ability to
estimate computed sums or differences of numbers. Following this, we have looked at some
activities that help children develop this skill.

Throughout the unit we look at certain misconceptions that children are likely to form
while addition or subtraction are taught in the classroom. Why they may have come about
and strategies for helping children to get rid of them have been talked about. Of cburse, as
always, we have suggested an activity-based learner-oriented approach in teaching the
concepts.

A lot of the problems discussed in this unit are related to what we have discussed in Unit 6.
So you may find it useful to take a brief look through Unit 6 again, before going further.
Objectives Addition and Suhtrs~ction

After going through this unit, you should be able to

explain the processes involved ih addition and subtraction;
plan and execute activities that would help children learn to add and subtract:
explain the niceties involved in creating and solving word problems;
suggest ways of effectively communicating the algorithms for adding and subtracting
numerals;
help children develop their ability to estimate the sum and difference of quantities;
evaluate your teaching strategies.

7.2 COMMUNICATING THE MEANING

OF ADDITION
One of the characters in a novel written by the Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammed
Basheer was asked by his teacher, "How much is one and one?" The child replied, "A
bigger one." This response is unusual. But, isn't it valid in several situations where 'and'
means 'join', for example, when two rivers come together and then flow on as one bigger,
wider river?

Isn't it usually t k e that when we add two quantities we get a larger quantity? Even at
fiome you can think of several instances of this. In all these examples, didn't you put two or
more sets together and make a larger set? For instance, adding 2 oranges and 5 oranges, or
adding water to flour gives a larger,quantity. In this unit, however, we shall limit ourselves
to adding those sets which can be counted, i.e., which are numerable; like oranges or
chapatis. We will not talk of examples like the rivers or dough.

Over here we are going to discuss ways of helping children learn that adding the objects of
different sets means finding the total number of objects that are being considered. We
would like them to understand the concepts and language involved. How can we achieve
this teaching objective?

Young children need to place addition in a context. They need to be given plenty of
concrete experiences to start with. For example, a child could be given a set of three
pebbles, and another of two pebbles, saying that 'These are three stones, and here are two
more stones. Now how many stones are there in all?'. Then she could be given three twigs
and two twigs, three buttons and two buttons, three marbles and two marbles, three biscuits
and two biscuits, and each time asked to do the same. Each time she should be encouraged
to describe what she is doing, for example, to say, "These are two marbles, and these are 3
marbles. I put them together. Now they are 5 marbles (counting them)." Initially, you may
need to prompt her by asking questions like: How many pebbles did you have? .And how
many more did I give you? How many in all?

Slowly, as she builds up her ability to describe what she is doing, you could introduce the
word 'add', and relate it to the action she is performing. Gradually, she would include the
word in her vocabulary, and associate it with the action of grouping. You could similarly
help her to understand and absorb terms like 'altogether' and 'plus'.

Now, as she loudly speaks out, say, "2 marbles and 3 marbles make 5 marbles", you can
write 2 + 3 = 5 on the board or on paper. When she says "2 pencils and 3 pencils make 5
pencils", you could again write 2 + 3 = 5, and so on. This will introduce her to the
symbolic representation of the addition statements. As she gets used to seeing this
representation, she can begin to write it herself. With practice, she will become
comfortable with the symbols.

It is also with a lot of exposure to joining sets of objects that children would be able to
ralise that 3+2 is the same as 1+4, and so on. Similarly, many concrete experiences would
be needed to realise the reversibility of the operation of addition, that is, if 3+2 = 5,
then 5 = 3+2.

Let us look at what sequence Ms. Mehta followed to help the children of her class learn
addition.

~ x ; n ~ t1:
e Ms. Mehta teaches in a government primary school in Delhi. The chldren
who come to her in Class 1 are familiar with a few numbers. At the beginning of the
session, she asks the children to collect objects, say pebbles, and count how many there are.
She also asks them to join two sets of them to find the total. She does this with various
kinds of objects that the children can easily find around them. Then she gives them
opportunities to practise addition without their being aware of it through games like the
following: ,

Let two children or two teams take dice and stones. Each child (or team) throws the dice
and picks up as many stones as the number on the dice. Whoever gets more in two turns
added together wins.

Throughout these activities she asks any one team member to loudly speak out what the
team is doing.

There are many other kinds of activities that she also uses. For instance, she shows the
children pictorial cards like the one in Fig. 1, in stages -first showing only the three
sitting birds, then the two flying in. Then she asks'them to find out the total number of
birds in it. .

Fig. 1: Pictorial representation o f '3 + 2 = 5 ' .

After they have come out with the answer, she uncovers the right hand side of the picture. .
They do this kind of exercise with several cards. She also adds the following kind of
portion to each card, in stages, uncovering it and reading it out aloud line by line.

3 and 2 more makes 5.

3 and 2 is 5.
3 plus 2 is equal to 5.
3 +<2= 5. I

Gradually, with a lot of exposure of this kind, she finds that they start associating the words
'plus' and 'equal to' with their symbols. At this stage she gives them pictorial worksheet@
like the ones in Fig.2, and asks them to write down the addltion that they see in a pidture.
below it. -
 Addition and Subtraction

Fig. 2: Examples from an addition worksheet.

She follows up such activities with 'fill in the blank' tasks like '3 + 4 = -'. She says. "lt
is only with practice that children become familiar with the symbols '+' and '=' "

Thus, Ms. Mehta takes the children towards the abstract concept of addition via the
concrete operation mode, pictorial mode, and the symbolic mode.

r,

Here are some exercises now.

El) Do you think that addition should be taught in the manner givcn above? Give
reasons for your answer.

E2) While exposing children to concrete experiences of adding sets of !hings, we should
use objects that are alike. Do you agree with this? Give reasons for your answer.

In Unit 3 we had discussed how important it is to expose children to a variety of verbal

prgblems involving the concept that they are trying to learn. Children attach meaning to
the abstract operatibn of addition by solving a variety of such problems. When I ask my
five-year-old neighbour how much 4 and 2 is, he makes all kinds of guesses. But, when I
ask him to tell me how many 'chapatis' will be needed if his mother eats 4 and he eats 2, hc
answers that correctly. This is because he can relate to this contest.

Children should be exposed to verbal problems at an early stage, not after they have
'learnt their facts'. While you are interacting with a child, look for natural opportunities to
ask the child a verbal problem about the concept you are helping her learn. For instance,

5-year-old Meeta is fond ofplaying with tennis balls. One day she had-two of thern, and a
friend brought over a container with three more balls. She, quite happily, proclaimed to
all that she had 5 balls now! And then, a couple ofdays later we played a 'cricket tnatch '
in which we used two otner tennis balls, which she wanted to keep also. So she said, "I ~clrll
have's0 many balls if1 take these also." And I asked, "How trrany?"

Ask them questions like 'If you add these marbles (pointing to one set) to these marbles
(pointing to the other set), how many will you have altogether?'. This will help them lo
improve their understanding of addition. Of course, while asking them such problems, we
need to keep them simple, and to cover various situations that the children relate to.

Broadly, there are two models of verbal problems involving addition, that children are
exposed to, namely,

Aggregation -when they need to combine two or more quantities (like sets of objects,
money, distance, volume, etc.) to obtaiqa single quantity. (e.g., if Munni has 3
pencils and Munna has 2, how many pencils are there altogether?) 35
a Augmentation -.where a quantity is to be increased (or augmented) by some amount,
and the increased value has to be obtained. (e.g., to a crate containing 5 bottles, 4 more
are added. HOWmany bottles wit1 the crate now have?)

How would you fainiliarise children with these models? The following exercises may give
you some ideas.

E3) What is the difference between the two models listed above? Which is more dil3icult
for children to understand?

E4) List some activities and word problems that you wou.ld expose young learners to for
helping them develop an understanding of the two models listed above.

Once children have been exposed to addition as suggested above, how would you assess
whether they have really grasped the concept? Of course, you would continuously evaluate
them while they do the concrete and pictorial activities. You could also ask them to create
verbal problems to match a given addition fact. For example, they could be asked to give
two different situations that 3 +'5 = 8 represents.

So far we have discussed ways of helping children get used to the concept of addition in the
context of small numbers. At this Stage they could be 'introduced to subtraction as the
"inverse operation".

7.3 DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING

OF SUBTRACTION
The process qf subtraction is the reverse of that of addition. Adding more to a collection to
make it bigger is just the reverse of taking away or removing some to make it smaller.

Let us look at the kinds of situations in which children would have to recognise that the
solutwn of the problem requires @em to subtract. Problems involving subtraction are more
complex for children to handle than those involving addition. This is because they have to
identrfy which quantity has to be taken away from which. This is very important because so
far they were exposed to addition, where 2 + 3 = 3 + 2. But 9 - 3 is not the same as 3 - 9,
that is, subtraction is, not commutative.

Let us now consider the different types of word problems related to subtraction that children
come across. Broadly, there are four such models, namely,
a -
Partitioning an action of taking away or removing some objects, and finding out
how many remain. (e.g., there were 15 toffees in this container, and 10 have been
eaten. How many are left?)
a Reduction -when the original amount and the balance or remainder are known, to
find the part that has been given away. (e.g., there were 15 toffees in a container, and
there are only 5 now. How many have been eaten?)
a Comparison -the Merence between two groups or numbers, namely, how much one
is greater than the other, how much more is in one group than in the other. (e.g., if
Munna has 15 erasers and Munni 5, how many less does Munni have than Munna?)
Complementary addition -what numberhow many things should be added to one
number or group to get the other. (e.g., a classroom can seat 50 children, and 20
children are already sitting in it. How ma* more children can be accommodated in
it?)

Of these types, children usually find complementary addition h e most d=cult to recognise.
Most problems involving F s model ask 'how much more?'. To a child, the word 'more'
signals addition, and she ends up adding all the numerals in the problem. On the other
hand, there are some *qhildren
*
who convert or reword any subtraction problem as a
 complementary addition problem. For example, they teud to think of 'subtract 7 from 13' Addition and Subtraction
as 'what added to 7 gives 137'. Many of us use this method when we mentally calculate, for
example, 391 - 180 by adding upwards from 180 to 200, and then on to 391, i.e., 391 - 180
is 20 + 191.
--

Now for some exercises related to these models of word problems.

I E5) How is the 'comparison model' different from the 'complementary addition model'?

E6) Create one word problem related to the children's world for each of the 4 models
listed above.

Now let's see how we can help children develop their ability to subtract. As in the case of
I addition, subtraction should be introduced in the context of familiar objects. Children could
be asked to subtract ('remove', or 'take away', o~ 'reduce') 3 laddus from a set of 5 laddus,
3 chapatis from 5 chapatis, 3 pebbles from 5 pebbles, 3 sticks from 5 sticks, and so on.
With plenty of exposure of this kind, they will gradually begin to understand that 'three
taken away from five leaves two'.

To familiarise them with the associated language, we can keep repeating the various terms
whenever the action takes place. We may also think of stories and games in which
terminology related to subtraction ,appears. A teacher we met suggested that the following
I kind of stories may help : r

- "Raju invited all 9 of hisfriends to his birthday party. But Munni and Pappu said they
couldn't come because they had to go somewhere else. So 9 minus 2, i.e., 7friends
came. "

For slightly older children, we can make the stories more elaborate. For instance, to the
story above we can attach ' 3 morefriends dropped out of the party for sorne reason. So, to
find the number of friends that were coming, Raju subtracted 3 j o m 7. ', and so on.
I
We could also create some subtraction games for children, which would give them several
opportunities to develop their ability to subtract. While doing so, we should see that the
children pay attention to the terminology used in each context. For example, you could
divide the children into two groups, and each group could state a subtraction fact to which
i the other group would give a verbal problem that the fact represents. For instance, if one
group says 7-3 = 4, the other group could say "If Munni and Munna have 7 pencils, and
I Munni has 3, how many does Munna have?", and so on.

Here's an opportunity for you to think about what we have just been saying.

E7) Write down a game for children with the objective of helping them develop their
1
ability to subtract.

Another aid that can help children practise subtraction is the number strip. TGS can be used
to improve their ability to count backwards. For example, subtracting 4 from 9 means to
first count 9 steps ahead, and then 4 steps backwards, and see where you are.

Fig.3: Using a number strip to show 9 - 4.

Once the process involved in subtraction is clear to the children, you could introduce the
symbol for subtraction to them. Again, they would need to use the term 'minus' and the
symbql '-' a great deal before they could be expected to be familiar with them.
Numbers-I As seen already, subtraction is easy for the child when objects are used. She removes the
required number of objects and counts the remaining ones. Or she may draw several strokes
and cross out the required number She may count backwards on a number strip too. But,
if subtraction is introduced withdut any of these devices, she is likely to have trouble in
even solving problems like 'subtract 8 from 13'.

E8) How have you been teaching children to work out a subtraction problem like 15-43?

E9) Give a few children of 8 and above some subtraction problems to solve. Note
down the different strategies they use for solving them. Also try and find o.ut the
obstacles they come across'while solving them.

So far we have separately discussed ways of teaching the concepts of addition add
subtraction. But these concepts are intimately related. Let's see how we can use this fact to
help children learn the concepts concerned.

7.4 RELATING ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION

In the earlier sections we have stressed the fact that to help children understand addition or
subtraction, they need to be exposed to various situations which require them to add or
subtract. Regarding this matter, we spoke to some people who are involved in studying ways
in which children learn mathematical concepts. In response to this, one of them told us how
he communicated addition and subtraction. What he had to say is given in the example
below.

Example 2: Raza has been trying out different teaching strategies in a primary school for
some years. According to him, children should first be made to add small numbers of toys
food items, objects found around them, and so on. After enough exposure of this kind, they
could be helped to develop a sense of subtraction (by methods suggested in.Sec.7.3). And,
while they are learning subtraction. the relationship bctween the two operations should be
brought out.

He finds that with enough experience of adding familiar objects, they would learn that, say,
3 marbles and 2 marbles are 5 marbles. With similar exposure, they would realise how
much i s left if you take away 3 marbles from 5 marbles. Then he helps them to relate the
two operations, by first giving them, say, 3 laddus and 2 laddus and asking how many
laddus they have. After this he asks them to take away 2 laddus from the 5 they have
(hopefully, they haven't eaten any up!) and say how many are left. He does this kind of
activity with a variety of objects - toffees, spoons, balls, and so on In this way the
children learn to understand 'take away', and relate it to 'add'.

Once children have practised both these concepts in the contest of small quantities of
objects, he moves them to the pictorial stage (as in Fig. 4). At the same time he introduces
them to the symbol '+'. After some practise with such pictures and the symbolic
representation, he does the same with subtraction. For this operation, he shows them a
3 + 4 = 7 picture like that in Fig. 5(a), and asks them first, "How many are there?'Then, in front of
them he strikes out, say, two (see Fig.5 (b)), and says, "If I take away two, how many are
Fig. 4 :Picture card left?"[ the same time, below that he writes dorv115-2 = 3 .
for addition.
-,

38
.-
 (8) @)
Fig.5: Picture cards for subtraction.

Of course, this kind of exercise should be done again and again, in different ways, for
children to be able to get used to the language and the symbols used.

At this stage, he also gives them pictorial worksheets (see Fig. 6) for practising addition
and subtraction.

Fig. 6: Examples from a worksheet.

To gauge whether they have understood the concept of addition, he asks them to represent,
say 6 - 4 = 2, with objects or pictorially. He also asks them to solve simple word problems
involving addition 1 subtraction. These problems are built around situations that the
children relate to, and he takes care to word them very clearly and simply.

Here's an exercise about the example you have just studied.

E10) Which aspects of Raza's strategy do you disagree with, and why?

Before going further, let us repeat an aspect of learning which is useful to keep in mind
while formulating teaching strategies. A child who can add or subtract in the context of
some objects, or pictorially, will go beyond this stage, to the abstract stage, very slowly. She
needs to keep coming back to the use of concrete objects or pictures to confirm her solution
and to become sure of her framework of understanding. She needs to practise addition and
subtractionPrepeatedlyin meaningful contexts. For this purpose, whenever the occasion
arises naturally, we should utilise it. For example, laying the table, dealing with money,
keeping track of luggage while travelling, etc, all these situations require her to add or
subtract. And then there are games like marbles or ludo, which give the child several
opportynities to use language related to addition and subtraction. Similarly, for a 7-year-
old child, answering "How much have you come down by?" or "How much do you go up
by?" in 'Snakes and ladders' may be very interesting. But, while getting her to solve
problems in these situations, we must be patient, and not hurry her into e i n g the
 answer. Give her enough time to understand what has to be done. Let her talk about the
process she is going through. Let her slowly build her underskuiding. This will help her to
gain cbnfidence in her ability to add 1 subtract. It will help her to accept adding and
subtracting as very natural activities, not alien concepts.

At this point, let us explicitly state an aspect of verbal problems that has been mentioned by
Raza (in Example 2). At present, children are exposed to. word problems only after they
have 'learnt' the formal algorithms for adding and subtracting. And then, many of the
problems they are asked are very complicated and distant from their own world. For
example, there are questions for Class 3 children that involve 'officer's salary' and
'miscellaneous items', terms that-the children don't relate to. Further, they also know that
the teacher wants the "correct answer". The usual teacher doesn't encourage them to take
time out to understand the situation given and what is required. So, rather than trying to
understand and analyse the probleu~,children look for key words or phrases that will
instantly indicate to them what they have to do. For instance, if a child finds 'how much
more' in a problem, she adds up the figures given, even if the problem requires subtraction,
since 'more' indicates addition

This is why it is necessary to introduce children to carefully and sim$ly worded verbal
problems right from the early stages on. The problems could be made more complicated
as the child grows more familiar with the concept. For instance, the augmentation model of
addition could be presented to a child much after the aggregation model, and, in fact, even
after the partition and comparison models of subtraction, in the context of familiar objects.

Here are some exercises about what we have just discussed.

- E l 1) Look at the examples you have listed in E4 and E6. Alongside each of them,
mention at what stage of a child's learning you would present her with that .
problem

E12) When a teacher observes how a child is solving a problem, what should she look for
- the mental processes the child is going through, or whether she gets the right
answer, or both? Give reasons for your choice.

Once children have understood the concepts of addition and subtraction, they need to learn
to use these operations efficiently. All of us find that memorising basic addition and
subtraction facts like 1+T = 2, 3-2 = 1 or 4+3 = 7 help us to solve addition and
subtraction problems efficiently. Some of the following activities may enable a child to
repeatedly be exposed to such facts in an interesting way, and hence, to absorb them.
L

Form groups of 10 children each. On the blackboard o r chart wnte incomplete

addition and subtraction facts. Ttlere may be as many columns as the number of
groups, and 10 problems in each column For instance, if there are 5 groups. you can
write:

2+3=n 1+7=n

Let Group I answer the problems in Column 1, Group I1 those in Column 2, and so on.
When the teacher says "Start", let the first child of each group come to the blackboard
and complete the first equation of the respective columns. Then, another child of each
group can come to the blackboard and write the second answer, etc. The groups which
finish all the ten items correctly win the game.

With older children, the equations could be modified to include higher levels of
understanding. For example, you could include complementary addition and
subtraction problems like
 I rn You could divide the children equally into two groups, A and B. A child of Group B Addition and Subtraction
can write an incomplete addition or subtraction fact, like 3+7 = .... on the blackboard,
and ask any one child of Group A to complete it. If she completes it correctly, Group A
gets one point. If she does not, then Group B gets 1 point. The group that gets the
point should then write another incomplete simple addition or subtraction fact, and ask
any child of the other group to write the answer, and so on. The nature of the game
and the scoring can be changed and decided according to your teaching objective. The
1 basic thing is to get the children to concentrate on and enjoy the practice activity.

1 On the blackboard draw an incomplete addition or subtraction chart as shown in Tables

1 and 2.

Table 1 Table 2

You could explain to the children how the chart is to be filled. Then let the children
come one by one to the board and fill up a cell looking at the respective row and
column.
. .
rn As mentioned earlier, you could use a number strip (see Fig.3) to get children to
practise certain addition and subtraction facts.

In each of these activities you can ask the children to clearly speak out and write down in
symbols the addition I subtraction fact they,have just presented.

Why don't you add to this list of activities now?

E13) Suggest an activity, apart from the ones above, which could be used to help children
acquire addition I subtraction facts.

Let us now look at one of the areas related to operations in which children have a lot of
mculty.

7.5 'PROBLEMS WITH APPLYING ALGORITHMS

From your experience, you would agree that children are expected to mechanically apply
the algorithms for adding or subtracting numbers, regardless of whether they understand
why it.works. Consequently, children make many errors while applying them. After all,
how much, and for how long, can a child remember several sets of rules with no apparent
logic to them?

Consider this sample of common errors:

These errors could be due to the fact that the children haven't understood
 I

i) the operation concerned, and / or

ii) the reasoning behind the way we write numerafs involving two or more digits, and I or
iii) regrouping (i.e., 'carry-over or 'borrowing').

Let us also not forget the complications that arise because the child does not
understand the concept 'zgro'. It could be because she has been told that zero is
'nothing', that errors like 205 take place.
-- 21
. - - 224
So, how can we remedy the situation? In earlier sections we have discussed ways of helping
children develop an understanding of the operations and related language. We have dealt ,

with place value in Unit 6. Please re-read Sec.6.3 before going further.

Regarding regrouping, let's see how 8-year-old Radha was helped to understand the
concept of 'borrowing'.

Example 3: A year earlier Radha's Class 2 teacher had tiied to explain the concept of
ones / tens / hundreds by using a variety of activities. But now Radha wasn't able' to apply
that learning to situations involving 'cany-over' or 'borrowing'. To help her, I decided to
play a game with her.

I had some small (1 inch square) cardboard pieces - 15 black ones, 15 yellow ones and
some red ones. I told her that we would play a little game with these pieces. I drew two
parallel horizontal lines, 9 inches apart, on a large piece of paper. And then I showed her
how we would represent different numbers using these square pieces -black squares to
show the number of ones in a number, yellow squares to show the number of tens and red
squares to show the number of hundreds. Also, the rightmost column would contain the
number of ones, the next one the number of tens and the third one the number of hundreds.
I showed her some examples (see Fig.8 (a)).

After some initial hesitation, she grew comfortable with this representation. Each time I
got her to write the number of red, yellaw and black squares used for representing the
number in a table with columns headed by R, Y and B, respectively, (R for red, etc.).
Above R, Y and B, I also asked her to write H, T and 0, as in Fig. 8@).

H 'T 0

R Y B

5 4 8

R Y B
(a) (b)
Fig.8: Representing 548 -(a) using the cards, @) in the decimal system.

Next, I told her that a rule of the game was that we couldn't cross the lines. So, we were
allowed only 9 pieces in a colunin And then:

I : Do we need more than 9 pieces in any column?

Radha : Yes.
 / L : OK! Think of some number in which you would Addition and Subtraction

She thought for a while, and then realised her error.

Radha : No, after 9 we go to the 'tens'.
I: Good, and what about the 'tens' colunm? Do you need more than nine yellow pieces?
Radha : No, then we can go to the hundred's column.

We played with this home-made version of the spike abacus some more. Then we moved
I on to adding two numbers, using this device. We started with 15 + 2 1. To start with, she
i wasn't sure how to handle this. With some prodding she decided to use two sheets of paper,
1 showing 15 on one and 21 on the other. Then, after some thought and some more talk
between us, she put the black square of 2 1 above the 5 black squares of 15, and the two
yellow squares above the yellow square of 15, and got what she wanted.

I So far, so good! Some more exercises of this kind, and then we moved to situations where
exchange would be necessary, as in 15 -t 16. She first showed 15 and 16 separately. Then
she put the 6 black squares of 16 above the 5 black squares in 15, and the yellow square of
16 above the yellow square of 15.

I : But, your black squares have crossed this upper line. Can you do anything about that?
Radha : Oh, yes! I remember. I can remove ten of them, and add 1 yellow one instead.
I : Very good. So, you exchange ten black ones for 1 yellow one - ten ones for one ten.
So you add one more ten to the tens column. You carry over 1 to the tens column.

Once she did this, she wrote down how many yellows and blacks she had, and arrived
at her answer, 3 1. Then I told her that we'd write down what we had done in the same
way that we had written the numbers earlier. She did it, as shown below; with some initial
help.

I 11 = 2 yellow + 11 blqck = 2 yellow + 1 yellow + 1 black

= 3 yellow + 1 black
t
We did many more examples of this kind, to help her link the concrete representation with
/ the abstract algorithm.
I ~ h ewei moved to problems involving the red squares, i.e., the 'hundreds'. We did several
' sums like 57 + 66, and recorded what we were doing simultaneously. She didn't take much
time to get used to 'carry-over' with three-digit numerals.

Throughout this interaction I would constantly ask her to explain to me what she was '
t
doing. And soon I discovered that she had b e p n to use the associated mathematical terms
' quite comfortably.
I
A few days later we did the activity for a bit again. And then we moved on to solving
problems like 68 , without using the squares. She slowly began to get comfortable with
I
-
+ 25
-
the addition of any two-digit numbers, and the concept of 'carry-over'.
Now for an exercise!

E14) Write down an activity in detail to help children understand the concept of
'borrowing'.

In this section we have looked at errors that children make when blindly following a
'method' that they don't understand. More often than not, they don't even realise how
ridiculous their answer is. If they could even mentally estimate what it should be, they -
would realise that 'all is not well'. How can we develop their ability to estimate? We shall
try and answer this now.

7.6 DEVELOPING ESTIMATION SKILLS

A study was done with some Class 3 and Class 4 children of five village schools to gauge
how well they had understood the standard algorithms. The children were asked to solve
problems of the type 1234 + 469. The responses were very interesting. Many of them were:

*
The children weren'; surprised by such answers. Clearly, their ability to estimate the
approximate size of the answer was undeveloped. Therefore, they didn't ask themselves or
,answer, "Does my answer seem reasonable?"
4
Why is this ability to estimate the computed result important? Don't we apply it again and
again in our daily lives'? For instance, when we are buying several things, and want to
quickly make sure that the total cost is within our budget, isn't this the skill we use.?

The ability to estimate computed results also helps us to detect arithmetical errors. Even
when we use calculators, it helps us to quickly check if we haven't pressed any wrong
buttons!.You can think of other ways in which this ability helps, while doing the following
exercise.

E15) Write down two situations in which you need to quickly approximate the sum or
difference of numbers.

There are a variety of strategies that people use for developing this ability. For instance,
while adding 1821,695 and 250, a person could estimate it mentally

i) by rounding off the numbers and computing with these numbers:

ii) by considering the leftmost digits to form a rough estimate, and then adjusting this
estimate by considering the other digits: .

first 1000 + 660 + 200, and then add 800 + 100 + 50.

There are several other ways like clustering, combining compatible numbers, and so on
Which stgtegy is used depends on the problem under consideration. These, and other
strategies, can only be developed by careful instruction, discussion and practice.

Consider the following situation, related to this issue.

 Example 4 : Shiela, a primary school teacher, realised that one aspect of teaching children Addition and Subtraction
*thetic operations is to develop their. abilities to estimate the expected result of
+;omputation. To do this she would utilise children's errors in applying the alg6rithm. For
instance, Shiela asked 8-year-old Raju to solve 23. He got 3 10. She asked him how he had
-
+ 17
h
got it. He explained his answer to her. So she asked him, "If you have 23 sweets and
someone gives you 17 more sweets, would you now have more than 300 sweets?" He said,
"Of course not!" "So how many sweets would you have?" He used other strategies for
addition, and came up with the right answer.

Shiela decided to do some estimation activities with Raju. She used bundles of ten
matchsticks each and some loose match-sticks for this. She asked him>o add 33 and 25
sticks. He took 3 bundles and 3 sticks. and then another 2 bundles and five more sticks. She
asked him to quickly tell her if it would be more than forty. After some thought he said,
"Yes, there are 5 bundles. So it will be more."
"Good! Will it be more than 707"
"No, there are 5 bundles. So it has to be 50."
"And the loose sticks? Can they be more than 20?"
"No."
"rn~7~'

At this point, with some patience and some examples, Shiela got him to gradually realise
that there can be at most 9 ones in any number. And, therefore, he realised that the ones in Fig. 9 : 33+25 b
two numbers can't add up to more than 2 bundles, that is, 2 tens. approximately 50.

With more examples like this, he slo\vly realised what Shiela was trying to get him to see
-that when adding two-digit numbers, one can estimate the quantity by adding the digits
in the 'tens' place first. He soon got used to this idea in alptract sums, that is, without
resorting to sticks.

Shiela helped him to see how he could use estimation to check if the exact answer he has
got in a sum seems to be right. She demonstrated it for several problems. Then she gave
I him some more sums to do, and asked him to find the approximate answers as well as the
exact answers.
t
With her experience Sheila realised that to develop this skill, it is important that the child
practise it again and again over a period .of time. Therefore, she wduld iften give Raju
I problems like 'If you ga to a shop with Rs. 601-, will you have enough to buy books for
Rs. 351- and pencils for Rs. 171-1'
I
There are several other activities that Shiela could have done to achieve the same purpose.
Think about them while doing the following exercise.
I

E16) What methad would you follow to help a child learn to estimate the difference of

i numbers involving two or more digits?

Estimation is a skill that needs to be developed in several contexts. We will not say any
more about it here, but the idea will resurface in the next unit, and in Blocks 4 and 5.

I And now let us end our discussion on problems related to addition and subtraction with a
quick look at what we have covered in it.
7.7 SUMMARY
In this unit we have discussed

1) some ways of conveying the meaning of the operations of addition and subtraction to
children.

2) the different models of verbal problems related to addition and subtraction that
children face.

3) the importance of getting children to solve word problems from the early stages on.

4) why children make errors while applying the algorithms for addition / subtraction.

5) how to help them understand the processes of 'carry-over' and 'borrowing', involved
in these two operations.

6) how to enable children to improve their abilities to estimate the sum / difference of
quantities.

7.8 COMMENTS ON EXERCISES

E2) This should be done so that qualitative differences (colour,.shape, size, etc.) do not
confuse the child. For example, a young child is not likely to say initially that two
oranges and three bananas are five fruits. She would look at them and say that they
are two oranges and three bananas.

) The distinction between the two is not always easy to maintain. Essentially, in
aggregation two or more thiilgs are combined, whereas in augmentation one thing is
expanded or increased by a certain amount. Children usually encounter the second
model in the context of Money or measurement.

The second model requires a higher level of understanding than the first one.
Therefore, children could be exposed to it once they are familiar with word problems
of the first type, maybe in Class 2.

E4) Children need to be exposed to verbal problems of both kinds in the context of sets of
objects, money, measurements, time, etc. Initially, the problems should be restricted
to dealing with familiar objects which children can handle, and hence solve the
problems easily. At a higher level, they can be asked to solve problems like finding
out the total cost involved in several purchases (first model).

And, once they have some idea of time (say, in Class 3 or 4), you could ask them
how old they are now, and therefore, how old would they be 15 years from now
(second model).

As far as problems involving measurements go, you need to keep all the quantities
involved in tenns of a common unit of measurement, till they learn about different
units and sub-units.

E5) The distinction is in the wording. The example we've given for the 'comparison
model' reduces to 15 - 5 = a
The example for complementary addition reduces to 1 I+20 = 50.
E7) For example, the game of dice and stones -who gets more and how many more
wins by a certain number of points.

E9) The main drawbacks which you might have discovered may be of the following type.

i) Lack of understanding of 'borrowing'. For example, she makes errors like

 --
28 or. -
-28

-
46 - 44

ii) She may be able to 'borrow' correctly when digits other than zero are
involved. But her understanding of the role of 0 in any place is unclear. For
example, she makes errors like

iii) Even if borrowing or re-grouping is done, the child has to use complementary
addition. For example,
I
63 tens ones
- 28
- is re-grouped as 8 5 13
- 2 8

The child has still to find out "What added to 8 gives 137", which is
complementary addition.
iv) She finds difficulty with borrowing in a problem like 200003
-78697

because she has to borrow 1 lakh to subtract 7 from 3, and this creates
confusion.

We have discussed other problems in See. 7.5.

E12) The first is more important, but the second is important too. An error in the answer
can help the teacher move backwards in the solution to find out at which point and
why the child has made the error. Only then can the teacher remedy the situation.
But, a right answer does not necessarily mean that the child has understood the
concept / processes involved in the problem she has solved.

E13) I.etting ihem see patterns like the following is useful for this purpose:
v
i) 1+1=2 ii) 1-1=0 iii) 1+ 1= 2

iv) 2 - 2 = 0
3-2=1
E14) Give children a lot of matchsticks and ask them to make a few bundles of ten sticks
each (as in Example 4.of Unit 6). Let them first get used to the idea of the bundles
and sticks denoting 'tens' and 'ones', respectively. Then they could use them for
various subtraction=activitiesin a graded manner -first doing problems like 16-5,
then the ones like 26-9, and finally those like 82-37. While solving 26-9, they
would begin to realise the meaning of 'borrow' when they have to take a bundle
from the G o showing 20, open it and add its tezsticks to the 6 already available.

Bundles Sticks Bundles Sticks

2 6 1 16

- - 9 - 9

Total 1 7

Repeat this activity several times in different ways with different objects. Then let
the children graduate to subtracting without taking recourse to concrete things. After
plenty of such practice, the children will be able to comfortably subtract by
bo~owing,even mentally

E16) You could adapt the 'bundles' activity, or use the 'beads' activity given in Unit 6.
There are many possibilities.