Our work investigated how six primary school students used a non-traditional method for adding and subtracting: the ABN method, a Spanish acronym for Open (method) Based on Numbers. Commognitive theory [Sfard, A. 2008. "Thinking as Communicating: Human Development, the Growth of Discourses, and Mathematizing." New York: Cambridge…

This observational study used data from 270 second-grade students to investigate the association between students' strategy use for multidigit addition and subtraction and their mathematics achievement. Based on strategies they used during a mathematics interview, students were classified into the following strategy groups: (a) standard algorithm,…

Reviews the historical development of subtraction algorithms used in the United States. Discusses different algorithms used and developed throughout history that had a major impact on the way subtraction is taught today. (Contains 22 references.) (ASK)

Two alternatives are given to the decomposition and equal addition subtraction algorithms. (MK)

Fifty Brazilian children aged seven-13 were individually given addition and subtraction exercises. Counting was the preferred procedure, with use of school-taught algorithms limited. Some children decomposed numbers into tens and units and then worked at both levels. They rarely referred to previous results when doing related exercises. (MNS)

This report illustrates a simple, short, yet relatively little known partial check on addition that elementary school pupils can be lead to discover, and later taught to understand. The process can also be used for subtraction and is viewed as more useful than the traditional check of casting out nines. (MP)

The following ideas are shared: (1) a low-stress subtraction algorithm that eliminates the traditional borrowing process, and (2) an approach to graphing circular functions that looks at the process of modifying simple functions as a series of shifting, sliding, and stretching adjustments, with its biggest advantage viewed as its generality. (MP)

Reviews research using diagrams, number sentences, and algorithms to help students learn to add and subtract; poses questions on the relationship of instruction to children's knowledge construction; and proposes a research agenda in this area. (86 references) (MKR)

Several subtraction algorithms are analyzed to see if they involve borrowing. The main focus is on an analysis of a procedure called the residue method. The operational arithmetic which underlies the symbolic manipulations is examined and conditions where the method does and does not use borrowing are highlighted. (MP)

A process for helping students in the elementary grades develop their own algorithms for subtraction with carrying is described. Pupils choose their own times and ways to move from manipulative materials to written notation. (MP)

Research recurrently indicates that children who have difficulty with arithmetic often use systematic routines that yield wrong answers. Recent research has focused less on identifying the most common errors among groups of children and more on analyzing individual children's errors. This paper considers the source of systematic errors in…

This study was implemented to test the relative effectiveness of two subtraction procedures (decomposition and equal addends) with respect to accuracy in solving subtraction problems requiring regrouping. Results favor the decomposition approach. (MP)

The importance of place value is discussed. Examples illustrating place value in addition and subtraction are given. (MK)

Two mental algorithms, one for addition and one for subtraction, are described. It is felt such algorithms should be taught explicitly. The usual process taught for paper and pencil is seen to inhibit mental arithmetic, and a need to include mental algorithms in the regular mathematics curriculum is promoted. (MP)

Use of low-stress algorithms to reduce the cognitive load on students is advocated. The low-stress algorithm for addition developed by Hutchings is detailed first. Then a variation on the usual algorithm is proposed: adding from left to right, writing the partial sum for each stage. Next, a "quick addition" method for adding fractions proposed by…