Base-Ten Number System
All modern number systems are “base ten.” Each place — ones, tens, hundreds, thousands — is ten times larger than the place to the right.
Were our 2G students native Japanese speakers, the names of the numbers would “say” the base-ten nature of the system.
32 — sanjūni — “three tens & two”
97 — kyūjūnana — “nine tens & seven”
445 — 四百四十五 — “four hundreds four tens & five”
In Japanese 11, 12 and 13 are:
jū ichi — “ten & one”
jū ni — “ten & two”
jū san — “ten & three”
English names for numbers don’t always help with “getting” the base ten structure of the number systems. We’ve sometimes thought we would try a year never using the standard English names for numbers, but the English translation of the Japanse
Today is August one ten and seven
Please turn to page seven tens and six
This round will be a bit shorter than others, it will be about two tens and 2 ones minutes long
Some educational researchers hypothesize that Japanese school children are ahead of their US counterparts largely due to the Japanese students early understanding of how numbers are put together.
While young students can often count by 10s — 10, 20, 30, 40… — the idea than “four tens IS 40” or that the number 13 — with a 1 in the tens place, a 3 in the ones place — MEANS “1 ten and 3 ones” — take a while to grasp. The idea that 1 ten = 10 ones can really be confusing!
One way we work with this is to play with a “code” based on our base-ten blocks. You’ll see it at the very top.
each dot (like a ones cube) = 1 one
each line (like a tens block) = 1 ten
each square (like a hundreds block) = 100
Here’s today’s challenge, with answers following!
And here’s the answers. How did you do? : )
You’ll see tonight’s (hand)writing homework reinforces this.
When we get to money, lightbulbs start going off—
1 penny = 1¢ = 1 one
1 dime = 1 ten = 10¢ = 10 ones
1 dollar = 10 tens = 100¢ = 100 ones
Onwards!