In
mathematics education
In contemporary education, mathematics education, known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics – is the practice of teaching, learning and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge.
Although ...
, a number sentence is an
equation or
inequality
Inequality may refer to:
Economics
* Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy
* Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups
* ...
expressed using
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers ...
s and mathematical symbols. The term is used in
primary level mathematics teaching in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Usage
The term is used as means of asking students to write down equations using simple mathematical symbols (numerals, the four main basic mathematical operators, equality symbol). Sometimes boxes or shapes are used to indicate unknown values. As such, number sentences are used to introduce students to notions of structure and
elementary algebra
Elementary algebra encompasses the basic concepts of algebra. It is often contrasted with arithmetic: arithmetic deals with specified numbers, whilst algebra introduces variables (quantities without fixed values).
This use of variables enta ...
prior to a more formal treatment of these concepts.
A number sentence without unknowns is equivalent to a logical proposition expressed using the notation of arithmetic.
Examples
* A valid number sentence that is true: 83 + 19 = 102.
* A valid number sentence that is false: 1 + 1 = 3.
* A valid number sentence using a 'less than' symbol: 3 + 6 < 10.
* A valid number sentence using a 'more than' symbol: 3 + 9 > 11.
* An example from a lesson plan:
Mathematics Continuum - Structure - Equivalence - Learning and Teaching Resources - Prep to Year 10 - Student Learning - Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
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Some students will use a direct computational approach. They will carry out the addition 26 + 39 = 65, put 65 = 26 + , and then find that = 39.
See also
*Expression (mathematics)
In mathematics, an expression or mathematical expression is a finite combination of symbols that is well-formed according to rules that depend on the context. Mathematical symbols can designate numbers ( constants), variables, operations, ...
* Equation
*Inequality (mathematics)
In mathematics, an inequality is a relation which makes a non-equal comparison between two numbers or other mathematical expressions. It is used most often to compare two numbers on the number line by their size. There are several different ...
*Open sentence An open formula is a formula that contains at least one free variable.
An open formula does not have a truth value assigned to it, in contrast with a closed formula which constitutes a proposition and thus can have a truth value like ''true'' or ...
*Sentence (mathematical logic) :''This article is a technical mathematical article in the area of predicate logic. For the ordinary English language meaning see Sentence (linguistics), for a less technical introductory article see Statement (logic).''
In mathematical logic, a s ...
References
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Mathematics education