Mathematics Class 101

Today I went back school book again. Mathematics Form 1 to be specific. After 31 years the obvious change is that my son is now studying maths in English. In 1975 I was in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bekok, Segamat. Mathematics was taught in Malay and called, "Ilmu Hisab"! I can't remember the fisrt chapter anymore but my son's book says "Whole Numbers".

After looking at the details, I notice the main objectives of this chapter are:
1) Counting, reading and writing whole numbers
2) Identifying the place values and the values of digits in whole numbers
3) Rounding off whole numbers
4) Performing combined operations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers, including the use of brackets
5) Solving problems on combined operations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers, including brackets

This chapter should not pose any problem to me, I said. However, some of the terms used sound strange. For example,

a) In the number 48 376, what is the place value of 8?
b) What is the value of digit 4?

Answers:
a) Thousands
b) 40 000

Question:
a) Round off 86 152 to the nearest i) ten thousand, ii) thousand, iii) hundred

Answers:
a) i) 90 000
ii) 86 000
iii) 86 200

I look forward to my encounter with Class 102 next week - Number Patterns and Sequences...