blondeviolin Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Anything addition that I give Abby, she solves easily. She seems to need more time in subtraction concepts, however. Why is that much harder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 If she get's addition easily, have you tried wording it like "4 plus what number equals 7" instead of "7 minus 4 = ?" It might be hard for her to get the concept of subtraction and the language of it at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 She understands that subtraction and addition are related. She's actually adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers with regrouping. She can do both just fine, but subtraction takes her longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 In that case maybe it would still be easier for her to count up, rather than take away...i.e. for 54-36....36 up to 40 is 4, 40 up to 54 is 14, so the answer is 18? That might be easier for her than 54 down to 50 is 4, 50 down to 40 is 10, 40 down to 36 is 4. I don't know WHY addition is easier/faster, but I know that it is for me too. (Just noticed she is in MEP 2, so I used MEP-ish tactics in my example :) .) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I've noticed the decision-making process at the top of each column in the traditional method slows my daughter down for a second. With addition she can kind of rip through them, because your "decision" is if you have an extra ten or hundred or thousand or whatever, and that comes after you do your basic adding. With subtraction, you need to look and see if you subtract now or regroup first, then subtract, then do it again. It requires more decision-making than just writing and adding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 It just makes me wonder. I'm not concerned with her regrouping... It's partly because she grasps addition concepts lightening fast. She doesn't grasp subtraction concepts slow (still faster than the HIG from SM or MEP requires), but it just seems so painstaking compared to how quickly she grasps the addition, you know? It just makes me wonder why it's seems to be more difficult... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrdinaryTime Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I think it has to do with learning the numbers in ascending order early on. Basically, learning to count for most of us is simply learning to add. I still always think of a number line going up first, even though I know the numbers ascend and descend. I think it makes addition a little faster for most since we essential learned to count by adding, not subtracting. ETA: I noticed the same thing in my kid. Subtration facts are answered a bit slower than addition facts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Idk. My dd9 has had a hard time with subtraction too. Even division just clicked today, and she is spitting them out quickly! But subtraction just makes her sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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