Objectives :
- Students will present their number systems.
- Students will be able to explain the need of place value and the idea behind the invention of zero.
Outcomes:
- We will be able to appreciate how the brilliant idea of place value made writing large numbers very easy.
- We will understand the need and the thought behind the invention of zero.
Why?
All the number systems which we had discussed till now or were presented by the students had one inconvenience. To write very large numbers was a difficult task. We either needed to write a very long sequence of symbols or keep defining new symbols for higher orders of numbers. The current number system, the idea of place value and the invention of zero by the Indian mathematicians solved this problem.
Lesson Plan :
The first 30 minutes are for student presentations. Then, through an inquiry based organic approach, the ideas of place value, zero and our current number system are discussed.