Taking Halves; Tip for California Pacific Charter School Online Math Students
(Provided by CalPac, Friday, June 08, 2012)
Taking halves is a very useful number sense tool, and with a little practice on-line math students can all be good at finding halves in their heads.
Start with Taking Halves of the Even Numbers
Half of 2 is 1. Half of 4 is 2. Half of 6 is 3. Half of 8 is 4. And Half of 10 is 5.
One Special Half
Half of 1 is ½.
Break Down Large Numbers
Now, armed with this information, you can find half of anything. Since you easily remember the halves of even numbers, all you have to do is make every number into an even number. 3 is 2 + 1 and half of 2 is 1 and half of 1 is ½, so half of 3 is 1+1/2 = 1 ½. This can be done with any odd number. 9 breaks down to 8 + 1. So half of 9 is 4+1/2 = 4 ½.
For larger numbers we can break them down , too. 222 is 200+20+2. And so half of 222 is half of 200 + half of 20 + half of 2. Or half of 200 is 100+10+1 = 111
Large odd numbers can be broken down to even number components. Finding half of 950 seems difficult. However, 950 is 900+50, but 900 is also 800+100+40+10. It is easy to find half of each of these numbers. So half of 950 is half of 800 + half of 100 + half of 40 + half of 10 = 400+50+20+5 = 475.
Practice Taking Halves an Important Part of On-line School Curriculum
On-line math students should practice finding halves, and quickly students will have a better number sense and estimation will be easy. Students who build these skills will improve math scores and overall school performance.
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