Some eleven plus children are tested on numerical reasoning.
There may be some eleven plus parents who could, possibly, want their children
to have an edge in the examination. One attraction of numerical reasoning is that
some elements are hard to coach. The following table may help some parents revise
a little used mathematics lesson from years ago. Do you remember your teacher drawing
up this table on the black board? Do you remember the squeaky chalk? Do you remember
the dust and the smell? Did any teacher ever throw a backboard rubber in a
lesson?
|
Arabic
|
Roman
|
Cardinal
|
Ordinal
|
|
1
|
I
|
Unus
|
Primus
|
|
2
|
II
|
Duo
|
Secundus
|
|
3
|
III
|
Tres
|
Tertius
|
|
4
|
IV
|
Quattuor
|
Quartus
|
|
5
|
V
|
quinque
|
Quintus
|
|
6
|
VI
|
sex
|
Sextus
|
|
7
|
VII
|
Septem
|
Septimus
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Mum, thank you. But what is a cardinal number?”
“That is easy, dear, it is a simple number – or an absolute
number.”
“Wow! Did you learn that at school, Mum?”
“I remember lots of what I was taught at school.”
“Mum, what is an ordinal number?”
“Well that is a number that forms part of a series.”
“What a good mathematics teacher you must have had!”
“Why do we learn Arabic numbers and not Roman?”
“You know, dear, I really do not remember. We will have to
ask ….”
