Development of the cardinality principle, an understanding that the last number-word recited in counting a collection of items specifies the number of items in that collection, is a critical milestone in developing a concept of number. Researchers in early number development have endeavored to theorize its development. Here we critique two widely…

Studies on children's understanding of counting examine when and how children acquire the cardinal principle: the idea that the last word in a counted set reflects the cardinal value of the set. Using Wynn's (1990) Give-N Task, researchers classify children who can count to generate large sets as having acquired the cardinal principle…

This paper focuses on the definitions and the mis-out and mis-in examples of rational numbers that four prospective elementary teachers presented while working on rational number assignments. The participants were first asked to respond, individually, to an Individual Rational Number Assignment, consisting of items aiming at detecting their…

Mastery of mathematics depends on the people's ability to manipulate and abstract values such as negative numbers. Knowledge of arithmetic principles does not necessarily generalize from positive number arithmetic to arithmetic involving negative numbers (Prather & Alibali, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210701864147). In this study, we…

Leading on from a paper published in the previous edition of the "AMEJ" (Kissane, 2023), which looked at scientific calculators and irrational numbers, Barry Kissane now turns his attention to the attributes of modern calculators as environments for learning about rational numbers.

The propensity to use a spatial framework to organize other pieces of information is a widespread phenomenon that permeates humans' representation of diverse concepts, including numerical quantities. Developmental studies on numerical cognition have revealed that humans possess a system for abstract quantity representation that is functional at…

Email filters classify new messages as either spam or not spam based on word frequency, syntax, and metadata. A "classifier" is an algorithm that maps input data into categories based on distinguishing characteristics, or "features." Features can be raw data or attributes derived from that data. "Feature engineering"…

We view the (real) Laplace transform through the lens of linear algebra as a continuous analogue of the power series by a negative exponential transformation that switches the basis of power functions to the basis of exponential functions. This approach immediately points to how the complex Laplace transform is a generalisation of the Fourier…

Mapping skills between different codes to represent numerical information, such as number symbols (i.e., verbal number words and written digits) and non-symbolic quantities, are important in the development of the concept of number. The aim of the current study is to investigate children's mapping skills by incorporating another numerical code…

In this article, we direct attention to what becomes critical in teaching activities for toddlers (1-3-year-olds) to learn the meaning of numbers. One activity we thoroughly explore is interactive book reading, based on previous research indicating positive learning outcomes from this type of mathematical activity, as it has shown to…

Rational numbers can be represented in multiple formats (e.g., fractions, decimals, and percentages), and a rational number notation can be used to express different concepts in different contexts. The present study investigated the distribution of the multiple concepts expressed by these different rational number notations in real-world contexts…

Adaptive expertise is a highly sought after, but difficult to achieve, outcome of mathematics education. Many teaching methods appear to support the development of adaptive expertise only in a small proportion of students. Game-based learning environments may be useful for supporting adaptive expertise. Therefore, we carried out a…

Children vary widely in their number knowledge by the time they enter kindergarten, and this variation is related to their future academic success. Although talk about number predicts children's early understanding of foundational number concepts, we know little about whether interventions can increase this talk nor about the types of number talk…

This paper is part of a broader study which explores South African pre-service teachers' use of the jump strategy on the empty number line for enhancing their confidence to do and teach mental mathematics computation strategies. The focus of this paper is the use of micro-teaching in the form of video recordings by pre-service teachers. Forty…

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of ordinality skills in early numerical development. Here, we investigate individual differences in ordering sets of items and suggest that children might also differ in their tendency to spontaneously recognize and use numerical order in everyday situations. This study investigated the individual…