Hot & cold cubes

1977 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley M. Jencks ◽  
Doald M. Peck

A simple model that portrays both addition and subtraction of positive and negative numbers is hard to find. A few years ago the authors ran across one that has been so successful it must be passed on for other teachers to use. This model lies in the realm of fanta sy yet provides an easily imaginable and crystal-clear picture of how positive and negative numbers behave when they are added or subtracted.

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judah Paul Makonye ◽  
Josiah Fakude

The study focused on the errors and misconceptions that learners manifest in the addition and subtraction of directed numbers. Skemp’s notions of relational and instrumental understanding of mathematics and Sfard’s participation and acquisition metaphors of learning mathematics informed the study. Data were collected from 35 Grade 8 learners’ exercise book responses to directed numbers tasks as well as through interviews. Content analysis was based on Kilpatrick et al.’s strands of mathematical proficiency. The findings were as follows: 83.3% of learners have misconceptions, 16.7% have procedural errors, 67% have strategic errors, and 28.6% have logical errors on addition and subtraction of directed numbers. The sources of the errors seemed to be lack of reference to mediating artifacts such as number lines or other real contextual situations when learning to deal with directed numbers. Learners seemed obsessed with positive numbers and addition operation frames—the first number ideas they encountered in school. They could not easily accommodate negative numbers or the subtraction operation involving negative integers. Another stumbling block seemed to be poor proficiency in English, which is the language of teaching and learning mathematics. The study recommends that building conceptual understanding on directed numbers and operations on them must be encouraged through use of multirepresentations and other contexts meaningful to learners. For that reason, we urge delayed use of calculators.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-23
Author(s):  
Alfinio Flores

Diverse contexts such as take away, comparison, and completion give rise to subtraction problems. The take-away interpretation of subtraction has been explored using two-colored chips to help students understand addition and subtraction of integers (Bennett and Musser 1976). This article will show how the difference and completion interpretations of subtraction may be illustrated with colored chips to help students develop a better understanding of the subtraction of negative and positive numbers. Black chips will represent positive numbers, and white chips will represent negative numbers. The basic principle is that chips of different colors will cancel each other when joined together; this pair of chips is called a zero-pair. Several zero-pairs together will still have a zero value. Each collection in figure 1 represents zero.


1964 ◽  
Vol 47 (364) ◽  
pp. 183-185
Author(s):  
P. A. Kaner

The usual method of teaching negative numbers is by means of a “number scale” illustrated by thermometers, bank balances and the like—This method suffers from the disadvantage that the properties discussed are those of measurement and not of number. When the important step of abstraction has to be taken and negative numbers handled in their own right, the break is considerable, and many children fail to master the addition and subtraction of negative numbers in (for example) equations and logarithms with negative characteristics.


Author(s):  
O. V. Samoshchenko ◽  
◽  
O. A. Zolotukhina

Code on the outputs of adder binary numbers described as the remainder of the sum the initial data on the adder module is equal to output carry weight. An original technique for synthesizing a way of operands representation in the addition and subtraction schemes of integers in a code with a negative zero was developed, which is based on the representation the source data in the form a remainder on the adder module. A method of computer representation for integer numbers is proposed, in which the codes of posi-tive and negative numbers are formed by the same procedure. The property of duality the addition and sub-traction operations on the initial data in the code with a negative zero have justified analytically. Areas of allowable results values for the correct input data addition and subtraction operations are determined. It is identified combination of the adder output signals, which determine the presence and polarity the adder bit grid overflow. It is shown that designed fixing scheme bit grid overflow of adder outputs invariant with re-spect to operations of addition and subtraction of source data with a negative zero code. For the analytical description of arithmetic operations on integer numbers represented with the proposed encoding method, a technique of calculating the sum and difference of numbers using the biased supplementary code has been proposed. Analytically substantiated, that the technique makes the scheme of the operational adder homoge-neous. The rules for establishing the correctness of the addition and subtraction operations of the integers given in the proposed encoding form are given. For true values of the initial arguments, the sums and the differences codes ranges are obtained, and the rules for positive and negative overflows identification are proposed. The original usage of a common numerical bias during the operands encoding, that evinces itself in the advantages of basic computer operations technical implementation, predetermines positive properties in practical implementations of more complex arithmetical actions.


Author(s):  
Dana Ganor-Stern

Past research has shown that numbers are associated with order in time such that performance in a numerical comparison task is enhanced when number pairs appear in ascending order, when the larger number follows the smaller one. This was found in the past for the integers 1–9 ( Ben-Meir, Ganor-Stern, & Tzelgov, 2013 ; Müller & Schwarz, 2008 ). In the present study we explored whether the advantage for processing numbers in ascending order exists also for fractions and negative numbers. The results demonstrate this advantage for fraction pairs and for integer-fraction pairs. However, the opposite advantage for descending order was found for negative numbers and for positive-negative number pairs. These findings are interpreted in the context of embodied cognition approaches and current theories on the mental representation of fractions and negative numbers.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Medvinsky ◽  
Alexey Rusakov
Keyword(s):  

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riley E. Splittstoesser ◽  
Greg G. Knapik ◽  
William S. Marras
Keyword(s):  

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