Playing with Arithmetic
Addition III

Now that you know there are many ways to do addition, you never have to get stuck again! When you have to solve a problem that looks difficult, you know you have some choices. You can break it down into smaller chunks, or change a number or two to make the calculations easier, or do any number of things to help solve the problem. From now on, you will always have a choice as to how to add numbers. If you like this way of thinking about arithmetic you can learn more about it by going to Arthur Benjamin's The Mathmagician's website.

Perhaps, there is more to this lesson than just getting better at arithmetic?

Some key ideas here are:

• there is always more than one way to solve a problem
• some ways to solve a problem are easier than others in any given case
• there is no one best way to solve all the problems
• you can develop your own ways of solving problems
• by exploring various ways of solving problems you'll better understand whatever you are working with

Are there other areas of your life, besides arithmetic, where you think this approach might be useful?