They pooled their resources. They then bought four ice cream cones at 25 cents each. In this page we will examine only the addition of two whole numbers focusing on its basic properties.
Addition is the first operation the child encounters.
Hence, an understanding of this operation is very crucial toward understanding the other three operations. This understanding involves not only the question when to add, but also the question how to add. A correct answer of the question when to add can only follow from a carefull analysis of the problem like the the one that is shown above. We believe that the only effective way to learn such analysis must involve solving an adequate number of word problems of increasing complexity. Because of the nature of our enterprise we will discuss in more details only the second question, that is how to add.