The Notion of Carried-Number, between the History of Calculating Instruments and Arithmetic：（Carried-Number的概念,计算工具和历史之间的算术）.pdfVIP

The Notion of Carried-Number, between the History of Calculating Instruments and Arithmetic Caroline Poisard University of Auckland poisard@math.auckland.ac.nz This paper is based on a doctoral thesis about studying calculating instruments and deals with the very familiar primary school notion: the carried-number. We develop this notion in three ways: the history of calculating instruments and their mechanisation; a mathematical study of this notion within the place-value system; and an analysis of experimental data from an investigation of student and teacher understanding. For many students and teachers the notion of carried-number appears to be undeveloped mathematically. This paper is part of a PhD research study about the teaching and learning of arithmetic in primary school, in particular year 6 students. An important aim was to bring together calculation and reasoning. The students studied different calculating instruments: the Chinese abacus, Napier’s Bones and Genaille-Lucas’ Rulers, and the slide rule. Through the study of those instruments, it was intended to develop understanding of the place-value system, the algorithms for calculating, and the notion of carried-number within the place- value system. In this paper we will focus on the notion of carried-number. Firstly, we show the link between the calculating instruments and the carried-number. Then, a mathematical analysis of the carried-number is given. Finally, there is an analysis of questionnaires given to students and to teachers about the notion of carried-number.