What adding means

Hello, and welcome to Myriora Maths! Here are three apples, and two more apples. How many apples are there altogether? Let's find out!

When do we add? When we put things together. You have three sweets, and your friend gives you two more. How many do you have now? Adding tells us.

Let's put the apples together. Three apples here. Two apples there. Push them together, and count them all: one, two, three, four, five. Three and two make five.

We write it like this. Three, plus two, equals five. The plus sign means put together. And the equals sign means makes the same as.

Here's a faster way, called counting on. Start with the three apples. We already know there are three, so we don't count them again! Just say three, then count on the two new ones: four, five. Five apples!

Why does counting on work? When we count all of them from one, we pass three on the way. One, two, three, four, five. Counting on just skips the part we already know.

Let's try one together. What is six plus three? Start at six, and count on three. Say it out loud!

Six. Then count on: seven, eight, nine. Six plus three is nine! Well done if you said nine!

Here's a tip. What is two plus seven? Two plus seven makes the same as seven plus two. So start with the bigger number, seven, and count on two: eight, nine. It's much quicker!

Here's a question that catches lots of people. What is five plus three? Some people count on like this: five, six, seven, and say seven. But they counted the five again! Say five, then count three more: six, seven, eight. It's eight.

Your turn! What is four plus five? Pick the right card. You've got fifteen seconds, or pause the video. Go!

Time's up! Start with the bigger number, five. Count on four: six, seven, eight, nine. Four plus five is nine!

Quick review. Adding means putting things together. Count on from the first number, without counting it again. And start with the bigger number to make it quicker. See you next time!