In numerical cognition research, the operational momentum (OM) phenomenon (tendency to overestimate the results of addition and/or binding addition to the right side and underestimating subtraction and/or binding it to the left side) can help illuminate the most basic representations and processes of mental arithmetic and their development. This…

Fraction arithmetic facility is fundamental to learning more advanced math topics. However, attaining the ability to add and subtract fractions is hard for many students. The present longitudinal study examined students' growth on simple addition and subtraction word problems between fourth and sixth grades (N = 536). Latent class growth analyses…

This study aims to examine the differences in numerosity estimation on a right-to-left number line between second- to fourth-grade students and undergraduate students, together with whether number-line estimation is related to basic arithmetic tasks (addition and subtraction). Hence, 53 Arabic-speaking children and 63 Arabic-speaking adults…

Teaching of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in mathematics starts from the first years of primary school. The learning output for four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) affects student success at every level of mathematics education from primary to higher education. At this point errors,…

Several types of converging evidence have suggested recently that skilled adults solve very simple addition problems (e.g., 2 + 1, 4 + 2) using a fast, unconscious counting algorithm. These results stand in opposition to the long-held assumption in the cognitive arithmetic literature that such simple addition problems normally are solved by fact…

The purpose of this study was to better understand how students with learning disabilities, including those who struggle specifically with mathematics, engage with fraction computation. In particular, we examined error patterns, the influence of like and unlike denominators on these patterns, and correct solution methods. Although skill-related…

Sixty-four adults were tested on simple addition and multiplication problems presented in Arabic digit or English number-word format. Overall, response times and error rates were much higher with the word format, but more important, presentation format interacted with arithmetic operation and problem size. (DR)

Second and third graders from six Dutch elementary schools (N = 168) solved two sets of almost identical addition and subtraction sums at a two-week interval. Inconsistency in strategies, which characterized half the subjects, was related to unfamiliar sums and resulted in misinterpreted errors. (TJH)

Tests of (n=107) third through sixth graders' basic addition facts found that 34% of errors involved the addition of zero and 83% of the remaining errors involved at least one of the digits 7, 8, or 9 when the other addend was 4 or more. (20 references) (MKR)

A newly introduced approach, rule space, can represent large numbers of erroneous rules of arithmetic operations quantitatively and can predict the likelihood of each erroneous rule. The new model challenges the credibility of the traditional right-or-wrong scoring procedure. (Author/PN)