1.4 Conclusion

Number & Operations for Teachers

Chapter/Section

Chapter One: Systems of Numeration

1.4 Conclusion

Objective

Look back at the significance of the main ideas in Chapter 1.

Conclusion

To young learners, the concept of place value is anything but obvious. Indeed, millions of children pass through elementary school without understanding the concept itself or its importance in arithmetic operations. Without such an understanding, such children have little or no basis on which to judge the correctness of their arithmetic thinking. It is for this reason that the authors regard this topic as the most critical in primary grades mathematics. As university students and/or teachers, it is probable that you are comfortable with the base ten numeration system without having ever considered its formal structure. This chapter focuses on the concept of place value using base ten, base five, base eight, and base two. Out of this experience, your understanding of place value in base ten will take on new meaning.