Take a square number, say 36 and use your calculator to find the square root of 36. Most calculators will give the answer as 6. If we square root any …

## Using BIDMAS

Below we look at each of the BIDMAS rules in turn. Brackets The convention states that any calculations which are in brackets are performed first. It is important to note …

## Estimation, rounding and standard form

A brief look through any newspaper headlines and you will soon encounter something such as this: “Cash-strapped entrepreneur, 33, launched a greeting cards company with just £30 in the bank …

## Dividing with negative numbers

Division is the inverse operation of multiplication. If $$3 \times 2 = 6$$, then $$6 \div 3 = 2$$ and $$6 \div 2 = 3$$. If \(3 \times ({-2}) = …

## Order of operations

Why do we all stop at a red light and go at a green light? Traffic lights would work just as well if everyone stopped on a green light and …

## Subtraction with negative numbers: using counters

We have seen how double sided counters are useful to develop an understanding of adding two numbers where at least one of the numbers is negative. In the last step …

## Multiplying negative numbers

Multiplying by a negative numbers has applications when students study transformations, use vectors and perform enlargements and stretches. Students first meet the concept of multiplication as repeated addition. \(3 \times …

## Addition with negative numbers: using counters

Whilst a number line can be very useful to help students understand what is happening when adding numbers some students find the concept of adding a negative numbers confusing especially …

## Subtraction with negative numbers: difference between

It is likely that ‘subtract’ is first met as the concept of ‘take away’. If you have ten sweets and I take away four sweets how many sweets have you …

## Working with negative numbers: number line

Students will be familiar with working on a number line and will be able to represent positive and negative numbers as positions on a number line. Adding numbers is often …

## Working with numbers

Welcome to week three. Last week we considered how different number systems work, found multiples and factors and prime numbers. We also explored two different methods of finding the highest …

## Negative numbers

We started the course by looking at the counting numbers. With the inclusion of zero, the counting numbers are known as the Natural Numbers. With the advent of money and …

## Prime factorisation: highest common factor and lowest common multiple

In an earlier step, we saw how the highest common factor of two numbers and the lowest common multiple of two numbers can be found by listing the factors or …

## Summary: multiples, factors and primes

During week two we gained a deeper understanding of how the base ten number system works. Young students are required to learn their times tables. We have seen how study …

## Prime factorisation

In the previous step we learnt that the definition of a prime number is a positive integer which has exactly two distinct factors. These two factors will always be the …