halbschriftlich

21:00 Feb 22, 2015 

...how many of us here are parents, and how many of us would understand the terms posted (with two exceptions) if we received a report of our children's progress in primary school arithmetic/sums/times/take-aways/divides?

Mathematics started after the 11+ in my day - at least in the grammar school I went.

There, they actually called religion "Divinity", and it was a CofE school!

Nothing against technical terms, but here, it has to be simple and familiar to anyone who is not a mathematician.

10:58 Feb 22, 2015 

My teachers wouldn't have recognized the terms either. But, for better or worse, things have changed.

And it's good to see that the War of the Roses has ended :-)

10:51 Feb 22, 2015 

Sorry, but in my books, your mention of "familiar language" rules out almost everything except grid or short division/multiplication if it is to be understood by teachers, parents and children.

It certainly wasn't called anything like "partial quotient" or "distributive" when Miss Moneypenny taught me it at New Farnley Primary School.

13:59 Feb 21, 2015 

Yes, it relates to primary schools. And primarily it needs to be accurate and in the language teachers are now familiar with.

13:57 Feb 21, 2015 

Looks like a primary school report. Can you confirm? If so, it needs to be in parent-friendly language.