Addition - the basics

Addition is when we find the total of two or more numbers.  We can use counting to add two single digit numbers.

Let's imagine that a bookshop sells 3 books in the morning, and then sells 2 books in the afternoon.

If the owner wanted to find out how many books she had sold in total then she could count them up:

1... 2... 3...    from the morning's sales

4... 5...          from the afternoon's sales

Therefore, she sold 5 books over the course of the day.  What the bookshop owner has done is to add up 3 and 2.

3 + 2 = 5

We can use our fingers to add up single digit numbers.

3 fingers (well, a thumb and two fingers) represents the first three books.  Then put up another finger for the first book from the afternoon, and another for the second book from the afternoon.

Adding up is a very important skill.  You'll do lots of adding up as you do more and more maths.