Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Is This A Red-Flag?

It is an important concept to understand but why add another algorithm to memorise? We often naturally use additive subtraction for mental arithmetic but if I was using pen and paper the algorithm I was taught seems simpler.

puffin this is exactly my response to the ridiculous algorithms that my kids are being taught at school these days - which make perfect sense as mental solutions and are a dogs breakfast on paper.

If you are in Aus, NZ, Europe or most other places, the "standard algorithm for subtraction" is completely sensible.

In the US there is a very different "standard algorithm for subtraction" which is an absolute dog's breakfast.

Well I do have "a solid understanding of mathematics and how its pieces fit together" and so inevitably I "believe that the standard method" of subtraction as it is taught in the USA is "bad and should not be taught".

People who are ignorant of the other methods for multi-digit subtraction actually believe that gratuitously complicated nonsense such as "Regrouping Across Zeros" is necessary to be able to do all multi-digit subtractions. Somehow this ridiculous method has become entrenched in the US educational system for the past several decades, and too many people can't or won't see how bad it is.