Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2014 September 1

= September 1 =

Addition help
Hi guys

How can you do 1+1 WITHOUT a calculator?

tks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.26.201.18 (talk) 15:01, 1 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Principia Mathematica 54-43.pngps this from Principia Mathematica might help? ;-) Dmcq (talk) 15:56, 1 September 2014 (UTC)


 * If you're asking how to teach children to add, the usual first step is to take one object, say an apple, then add another object, then have them count the total. Repeat this with various objects, and eventually they will understand that if you add 1 + 1 of any objects, you always get 2. StuRat (talk) 16:20, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Unless of characteristic 2 YohanN7 (talk) 16:47, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Not Unless, but rather Including when: that 2 = 0 for characteristic 2 does not change the validity of 1 + 1 = 2 (2 is normally defined as 1 + 1 in the general case). —Quondum 18:06, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I-I don't understand what any of those symbols mean. 181.60.185.140 (talk) 00:05, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Nobody said calculating 1+1 was easy. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:00, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Replying to StuRat. Actually you have taken rather a jump there. Before we get to do 1 + 1 the concept of "counting on" need to be introduced, what do you get if you count on one place from one. (In technical terms applying the successor operator S(x) to one, S(1)). Quite a bit of work is needed both educationally and logically to go from counting-on to full addition. --Salix alba (talk): 19:27, 7 September 2014 (UTC)