[xmca] understanding division

[Bill Kerr <billkerr@gmail.com>]

Andy:

"So Bill, I think the position may be this (and please, I am way out of my
comfort zone here, but the July 4 holiday will be over soon and maybe the
cavalry will come to our rescue.) Your kids can't see any 2s in the 5 of 54,
because they see the 5 as an ordinal. They can see 2 2s in 4, because they
have been told so countless times, But they haven't been able to generalise
that knowledge because 5 does not "contain" 4, it is just the number "after"
4. OK? What do you think? Does that make sense?"


I'm currently reading Nunes and Bryant, "Children Doing Mathematics" which
does discuss these fundamentals in some depth. I suspect there is more to it
than understanding the significance of cardinals and ordinals. But will have
to read more before responding.
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