When I was in the first grade and maybe the second I could do math addition and subtraction backward (from left to right) and do it mostly faster than all the kids carrying from right to left. I often wonder how that would have developed and affected my life if I had never been "corrected". I can still do it a little bit but I never fully developed that skill because it was considered "wrong" by my teachers and I relearned how to do it the traditional way.
Do you mean to say that when you did, for example,
22 +
19
you would go 20+10 is 30, 2+9 is 11, 30+11 is 41?
That's definitely the fastest way to do addition and subtraction in your head, though I don't think I've heard it expressed like that before, or heard of it being done that way on paper. Interesting.
Or, maybe you went 2+1 is 3, 2+9 is 1, carry a 1, 41? Also interesting, basically the same as the "traditional" paper way of doing it, only backwards. There's no real reason it should be faster though, so it just would have been that you were used to doing it that way. There's nothing wrong with that way though. It still gets you the right answer.
I think I probably did it like the later example. Who knows, I was probably faster just because I got it quicker than other students anyway. It's hard to tell because I was so young, heck, I am even having trouble remembering how I did it but I think it was the later method.
I did read a book called Miracle Math about half a dozen years ago though that taught the first method for both addition and subtraction. I loved it, it just felt natural and I was getting quick with it but then got distracted and kind of lost my interest. I should look that book back up again. It was a lot of fun.
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
Five Things We Don't Know About You.
- 03/12/2010 09:23:17 PM
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Five? That's a lot.
- 03/12/2010 09:34:06 PM
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Re: Five? That's a lot.
- 04/12/2010 10:53:45 PM
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Re: Five? That's a lot.
- 05/12/2010 04:31:33 AM
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Re: Five? That's a lot.
- 07/12/2010 02:05:46 AM
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Hmmm... I'll play.
- 03/12/2010 09:38:13 PM
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Fiver, The Prophetic Bunny.
- 04/12/2010 02:01:13 AM
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/me claps A GAME!! I love games!! <3
- 04/12/2010 02:31:00 AM
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- 07/12/2010 02:27:09 PM
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- 07/12/2010 02:27:09 PM
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Ok. I'll give it a go.
- 04/12/2010 11:24:49 PM
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Mayonnaise is delicious. *NM*
- 05/12/2010 09:24:44 PM
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*NM*
Hey! Me too!
- 06/12/2010 05:17:15 PM
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I don't know what you know
- 05/12/2010 12:07:51 AM
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You Knit!!!
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I knit.
- 06/12/2010 06:45:20 PM
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Recipes?
- 06/12/2010 07:14:35 PM
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Re: Recipes?
- 06/12/2010 07:15:49 PM
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I still think it works.
- 06/12/2010 07:29:59 PM
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Hush!
- 06/12/2010 07:31:38 PM
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Re: Hush!
- 06/12/2010 07:41:23 PM
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Re: I don't know what you know
- 07/12/2010 02:29:34 PM
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Re: I don't know what you know
- 07/12/2010 02:33:22 PM
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Any chance that this gets announced so more people see it and take part? *NM*
- 05/12/2010 09:12:02 PM
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I fear you do know everything about me
- 06/12/2010 10:15:07 AM
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Alright
- 06/12/2010 06:11:32 PM
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You dislike maths and post jokes like the one you just did? 
*NM*
- 06/12/2010 07:34:44 PM
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*NM*
- 06/12/2010 07:34:44 PM
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"Broken, bleeding knuckles?"
- 06/12/2010 09:20:49 PM
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They get really, really dry in the winter and start to bleed.
- 06/12/2010 09:42:49 PM
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I highly appreciate that fact that Starry"s post got threadjacked!! Awesome. *NM*
- 06/12/2010 10:53:07 PM
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again, with actual answers!
- 07/12/2010 01:34:43 PM
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