Learning how to count all over again!
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
28 January 2007
Cyrus
Muiga is trying to
understand the meaning of zero. He asks, Is it nothing? Does it have a
value? If 0= nothing, does that mean 10= 1?
The answer is yes and no!
Yes, zero equals nothing but, NO, that does not mean that 10 = 1. To
comprehend this, we must first understand the mean of 10, which we
read as the number ten.
Our counting system is in
base ten. That means that there are ten symbols to represent quantities.
These are 0, 1, 2, 3
9. Zero is used to represent the situation where
there no objects. After the symbol 9, we repeat the sequence but add a
marker to indicate that one round has already been completed. This
signifies that there is a group of ten at hand.
Thus we write: 0, 1, 2,
3
9, 10, 11
In the symbol 10 the 1 indicates that a group of ten
objects have been counted and the 0 means that there is nothing more
above the ten.
Following this
nomenclature, it is clear that a symbol like 25, is interpreted as two
groups of ten objects each and an additional five items. If, on the
other hand, we wrote 01 it would mean that there is no set of ten
(because 0 = nothing) and there is one object. That is, there is only
one object (01 = 1).
The system continues this
way up to 99 and then it goes to 100. Now, 99 means nine groups of
ten and nine separate objects. Now if you add one more object, you will
get ten groups of ten.
Thus 100 means one set
containing ten groups of ten objects, no other group of ten and no
additional objects remaining. That is, a hundred items.
In the same breath, a
figure like 523 is interpreted as: five sets, each with ten groups of
ten objects; two additional groups of ten; and three extra objects. Now,
during my school days, we would say five hundreds, two tens and three
ones.
Now some manufacturers use
base twelve for their counting they call it a dozen. The product will
be placed in packets containing twelve items each. These packets will be
put boxes of twelve packets each. And the boxes will be bound into bales
of twelve boxes each.
Now Cyrus, how would you
interpret the figure 1,000?
******
Several readers have asked me to comment on
the recent policy to allow secondary school pupils to use calculators in
the examinations. The general feeling appears to be that this will
reduce the standard of mathematics in
Well, I think by the time one gets to form four, there is no doubt that he or she can do arithmetic, that i.e., add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc. those skills are learned in primary school and tested in class eight. In my view, the policy was 23 years too late. It should have been introduced in 1983, when I was doing my form four exams!
 |
 |