What names do they give numbers in school?

[choogling 14]

From what I remember they don't often use such large numbers in schools. When they did it was in physics & then we'd use 1x10^9 style notation, 2 billion would be "2 times 10 to the power of 9", rather than 2 billion, we used scientific notation. That was in secondary school, I don't remember them teaching us anything past a million in primary school, maybe a few lessons in Y3.

We did the times tables (1950s) every morning after the register parrot fashion but it worked,when my daughters were in primary school the way they taught subtraction even confused me so i showed them the add ten to the top carry one over to the bottom old way of doing it.The teacher complained that although the answers were correct the method used was wrong after a blazing row with said teacher we agreed to disagree and the matter was dropped.

[Number Six 10]

Ah, I see.

 

My one is at the end of Y1 and they haven't come across such large numbers yet, as far as I'm aware. I'll keep you posted but it may take up to 5 years for me to get the definitive answer!

 

Thank you

[Number Six 10]

Never known a pre school kid be interested in maths, my kids were more interested in Barbie dolls etc both grown up and have degrees.

 

It's not 'maths' - it's just that she can count, and keeps asking what the biggest number is. She has heard the words thousand, million and billion - it seems a big number is on on every news bulletin on the radio - and asks about them. I just wondered if I was telling her the same thing school would tell her.

 

She's asked so often what the biggest number is that I felt I had no choice but to tell her about the concept of infinity. Today I overheard her 'counting' "infinity and one, infinity and two, infinity and three ..." so I don't think she's quite got it yet

[Lockjaw 11]

 

Jack's Rake, they use whiteboards now

 

I'm sure "they" do but they still call blackboards "blackboards".

[Lockjaw 11]

It's not 'maths' - it's just that she can count, and keeps asking what the biggest number is. She has heard the words thousand, million and billion - it seems a big number is on on every news bulletin on the radio - and asks about them. I just wondered if I was telling her the same thing school would tell her.

 

She's asked so often what the biggest number is that I felt I had no choice but to tell her about the concept of infinity. Today I overheard her 'counting' "infinity and one, infinity and two, infinity and three ..." so I don't think she's quite got it yet

 

Cool kid! You should send her along to the 5+5+5 thread...

[Number Six 10]

Cool kid! You should send her along to the 5+5+5 thread...

 

I have every confidence it will be still running in one form or another by the time she can type

[Jeffrey Shaw 93]

We did the times tables (1950s) every morning after the register parrot fashion but it worked,when my daughters were in primary school the way they taught subtraction even confused me so i showed them the add ten to the top carry one over to the bottom old way of doing it.The teacher complained that although the answers were correct the method used was wrong after a blazing row with said teacher we agreed to disagree and the matter was dropped.

They were very cruel teachers if the times-tables went so large that use of 'a billion' was relevant.

[Jag82 10]

Apparently we semi officially changed in 1975. You do wonder when the papers talk about a billion pounds if they mean £1,000,000,000 or 1,000 times as much!

 

They mean 1,000,000,000 they use trilion to describe 1,000,000,000,000

 

Standard form billion 1x10^9 trillion 1x10^12

[Jag82 10]

It's not 'maths' - it's just that she can count, and keeps asking what the biggest number is. She has heard the words thousand, million and billion - it seems a big number is on on every news bulletin on the radio - and asks about them. I just wondered if I was telling her the same thing school would tell her.

 

She's asked so often what the biggest number is that I felt I had no choice but to tell her about the concept of infinity. Today I overheard her 'counting' "infinity and one, infinity and two, infinity and three ..." so I don't think she's quite got it yet

 

She has a better understanding of it than you realise !

 

Infinity is not 'The biggest number' it is a concept. you can add 1, 2 or 3 to infinty the answer is infinity.

 

There isn't 'one infinity' some infinities are bigger than others !

 

Google 'Hilbert's hotel' alternatively ask your daughter

[Number Six 10]

It did occur to me after I'd typed it that actually she could have been showing understanding: previous answers to the question "What is the biggest number?" have been that there isn't a biggest number because whatever number you think is the biggest, you can always add 1 to it.

 

"infinity plus x" is just putting that into practice.

 

I read 'Infinity and the Mind' - or part of it - many years ago. I remember it being interesting, but sadly I can't remember the content

[Jeffrey Shaw 93]

Fact 1: transfinite numbers [= bigger than infinity] 'exist' in the same sense that imaginary numbers [= square root of -1 etc.] 'exist'.

 

Fact 2: mathematicians prefer to use non-Roman alphabetics for symbolising items to which they cross-refer. All Greek letters had already been ascribed meanings (usually algebraic or trigonometric) by the time that transfinite numbers were invented/discovered. Hebrew letters are therefore now ascribed to the latter. For example, aleph null is the smallest cardinal number larger than infinity.

See http://uk.ask.com/web?qsrc=1&o=0&l=dir&q=%22Aleph+null%22&dm=all

[Number Six 10]

Now that is interesting - thank you. I will have to ponder it myself for a bit before I can think of an accessible way to explain it to a 3 year old though!