Elementary arithmetic is the simplified portion of arithmetic which includes the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Elementary arithmetic starts with the natural numbers and the written symbols (digits) which represent them. The process for combining a pair of these numbers with the four basic operations traditionally relies on memorized results for small values of numbers, including the contents of a multiplication table to assist with multiplication and division.
Elementary arithmetic also includes fractions and negative numbers, which can be represented on a number line.
The abacus is an early mechanical device for performing elementary arithmetic, which is still used in many parts of Asia. Modern calculating tools which perform elementary arithmetic operations include cash registers, electronic calculators, and computers.
Read more about Elementary Arithmetic: The Digits, Addition, Successorship and Size, Counting, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Educational Standards
Famous quotes containing the words elementary and/or arithmetic:
“Listen. We converse as we live—by repeating, by combining and recombining a few elements over and over again just as nature does when of elementary particles it builds a world.”
—William Gass (b. 1924)
“Your discovery of the contradiction caused me the greatest surprise and, I would almost say, consternation, since it has shaken the basis on which I intended to build my arithmetic.... It is all the more serious since, with the loss of my rule V, not only the foundations of my arithmetic, but also the sole possible foundations of arithmetic seem to vanish.”
—Gottlob Frege (1848–1925)