Teachers show children solve basic math problems at the blackboard.
It is imperative for young students to memorize addition and subtraction facts to build a good foundation for mathematics. To help them, teachers can demonstrate various math tricks to help children memorize these facts. Learning math facts requires repetition. The more practice a child gets, the more likely she is to memorize addition and subtraction math facts.
Basic Addition Tricks
There are a number of basic addition tricks that teachers can use when teaching addition facts. The first is what happens when adding zero to a number. Teachers illustrate that when adding zero to any number, the answer is the first number. The next trick is adding one to any number. When doing this, the answer is always one number higher than the first number. Another basic addition trick is when adding doubles. Doubles occur when you add a number to the same number, such as 2 + 2 or 4 + 4.
Basic Subtraction Tricks
There are several basic subtraction tricks teachers can schildren. When subtracting zero from any number, the answer is always the first number. When subtracting one from any number, the answer is one less than the first number. The answer is always zero when the two numbers in a subtraction problem are the same number.
Doubles Plus Addition Trick
One math trick students use with addition is the doubles plus trick. When teaching addition facts, this is illustrated by adding two numbers that are one number apart, such as 4 + 5. When children have doubles addition facts memorized, this trick works well. Since 5 is one more than 4, teach children to add 4 + 4 and then add 1 to make 9.
Counting Up Additions Trick
The counting up trick is also commonly used for addition facts. For this technique, you begin with the larger number in the problem and count up the amount of the smaller number. For example, if the problem is 6 + 3, start with 6 and count up 3 numbers by saying: 6, 7, 8, 9. The answer then is 9.
How Far Apart Subtraction Trick
When two numbers in a subtraction problem are relatively close, teachers commonly teach students to calculate how far apart the two numbers are to solve the problem. To calculate a subtraction problem with this method, count from the lower number up to the higher number. For example, if a problem asks, "What is 11 - 8?" start at 8 and count up. For this problem, you would say: 9, 10, 11. That is 3 numbers, so the answer is 3.
