Basic Addition

Welcome to the presentation
on basic addition.

I know what you're thinking,
Sal, addition doesn't

seem so basic to me.

Well, I apologize.

Hopefully by the end of this
presentation or in a couple

of weeks it will seem basic.

So let's get started
with, I guess we could

say, some problems.

Well let's say I start
with an old classic.

1 plus 1.

And I think you already know
how to do this, but I'll kind

of show you a way of doing this
in case you don't have this

memorized or you haven't
already mastered this.

You say, well, if I have 1,
let's call that an avocado.

If I have 1 avocado and
then you were to give me

another avocado, how many
avocados do I now have?

Well, let's see.

I have 1, 2 avocados.

So 1 plus 1 is equal to 2.

Now, I know what
you're thinking.

That was too easy, so let
me give you something a

little bit more difficult.

I like the avocados.

I might stick with that theme.

What is 3 plus 4?

This is, I think, a more
difficult problem.

Well, let's stick
with the avocados.

And in case you don't know what
an avocado is, it's actually

a very delicious fruit.

It's actually the fattiest
of all the fruits.

You probably didn't even
think it was a fruit,

even if you ate one.

Let's say I have 3
avocados-- 1, 2, 3.

And let's say you were to
give me 4 more avocados.

So let me put this 4 in yellow
so you know that these are

the ones you're giving me.

1, 2, 3, 4.

So how many total
avocados do I have now?

That's 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7 avocados.

So 3 plus 4 is equal to 7.

And now I'm going to introduce
you to another way of

thinking about this.

It's called the number line.

And actually, I think this is
how I do it in my head when I

forget-- if I don't
have it memorized.

So number line, I just write
all the numbers in order.

And I go high enough just
so all the numbers I'm

using are kind of in it.

So you know the first number
is 0, which is nothing.

Maybe you don't know,
but now you know.

And then you go to 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Keeps going-- 11.

So we're saying 3 plus 4.

So let's start at 3.

So I have 3 here and we're
going to add 4 to that 3.

So all we do is we go up the
number line, or we go to the

right on the number
line, 4 more.

So we go 1, 2, 3, 4.

Notice all we did is we just
increased it by one, by

two, by three, by four.

And then we ended up at 7.

And that was our answer.

We can do a couple
of different ones.

What if I asked you
what 8 plus 1 is?

Well, you might
already know it.

You know, plus 1 is
just the next number.

But if we look at the
number line you start

at 8 and you add 1.

8 plus 1 is equal to 9.

Let's do some harder problems.

And just so you know, if you're
a little daunted by this

initially, you can always
draw the circles.

You can always do
the number line.

And eventually, over time, the
more practice you do-- you'll

hopefully memorize these and
you'll do these problems

in like half a second.

I promise you.

You just got to
keep practicing.

I want to draw the number line
again, actually, I have a line

tool, so I should give you
all those ugly looking lines

that I've been giving you.

Look at that.

That's amazing.

Let me see.

Look at that.

That's a nice looking line.

I'm going to feel bad
to erase it later on.

So let me draw a number line.

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

So let's do a hard problem.

I'm going to do it in
different colors now.

5 plus 6.

So if you want, you could
pause the video and try this.

You might already
know the answer.

And the reason why I say this
is a hard problem is because

the answer has more numbers
than figures, so you can't

necessarily do it
on your fingers.

So let's get started
with this problem.

Actually, my phone is ringing,
but I'm going to ignore the

phone because you're
more important.

OK, let's start at the 5.

So we start at the 5 and
we're going to add 6 to it.

So we go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

And we're at 11.

So 5 plus 6 is equal to 11.

Now I'm going to ask you a
question, what is 6 plus 5?

Well, we're now
going to see that.

Can you switch the two numbers
and get the same answer?

Well, let's try that.

And I'm going to try it in
a different color so we

don't get all confused.

So let's start at 6.

Ignore the yellow for
now and add 5 to it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

We get to the same place.

And I think you might want
to try this on a bunch of

problems and you'll see
it always works out.

That it doesn't matter what
order-- 5 plus 6 is the

same thing as 6 plus 5.

And that makes sense.

If I have 5 avocados
and you give me 6,

I'm going to have 11.

If I have 6 avocados and
you gave me 5, I'm going

to have 11 either way.

Since this number line is so
nice, I want to do a few

more problems using it.

Although as I use it I'm sure
I'll just continue to confuse

you because I'll write
so much on top of it.

But let's see.

I'll use white now.

What is 8 plus 7?

Well, if you can still read
this, 8 is right here.

We're going to add 7 to it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

We go to 15.

8 plus 7 is 15.

So hopefully that gives
you a sense of how to do

these types of problems.

I guess this and you're going
to learn multiplication in a

little bit, but these types of
problems are-- when you're

getting started off in
mathematics, these kind of

require the most practice and
to some degree, you have to

start memorizing them.

But over time, when you look
back, I want you to remember

how you feel while you're
watching this video right now.

And then I want you to watch
this video in like 3 years and

remember how you felt when
you're watching it now.

And you're going
to be, oh my God.

This was so easy because you're
going to learn it so fast.

So anyway, I think
you have an idea.

If you don't know the answer to
any of the additional problems

that we give in the exercises
you can press the hints and

it'll draw circles and you can
just count up the circles.

Or if you want to do it
on your own so you get

the problem right, you
could draw the circles.

Or you could draw a number
line like we did in

this presentation.

I think you might be ready to
tackle the addition problems.

Have fun.