Before looking at this page you are advised to work through the Background Tutorial.

Number Crunchers provide two stepping stones between concrete number, e.g. MAB, and abstract number i.e. just using digits. The first stepping stone is the MAB Number Cruncher which provides an automatic and dynamic link between concrete and abstract number. The second stepping stone, the Original Number Cruncher, combines the abacus format, which is a combination of concrete and abstract, with the automatic and dynamic link between concrete and abstract.

Number Crunchers are a great tool to use in conjunction with the MAB Student Resource Book and Postcodes. In fact they can be used in conjunction with most other teaching aids. They complement other teaching aids, not replace them.

Helping Students Learn With Understanding

Many students don't survive Math/s because they have not been established in those vital foundational concepts. Number Crunchers address these concepts in a way that promotes understanding and restricts students to learning from first principles.

The Benefit of Column Labels

The link provides a full discussion of
Column Labels.

This booklet does not exhaust the concepts for which the Original Number Cruncher can be used. Less than half the number of concepts are illustrated in the booklet. An on line concept list is in preparation. The concept booklet can be downloaded in .pdf format, two A5 pages at a time. Some of the files are rather large because of the graphics involved. Viewing them in Acrobat at 100% the graphics don't look that good, but they print very well. If you want to read the manual in Acrobat you might have to enlarge the pages.

Front Cover and Page 1 (239k)
Page 1 - Probability / Pattern

Page 2 and Page 3 (215k)
Page 2 - Arrays - Number Facts / Mathematical Language
Page 3 - Common Fractions / Ordering

Page 4 and Page 5 (315k)
Page 4 - Recognition of Number / Sorting and Classifying
Page 5 - Digital Time / Ordinals

Page 6 and Page 7 268k)
Page 6 - Auditory Memory / Problem Solving
Page 7 - Ratio / Conservation of Number

Page 8 and Page 9 (333k)
Page 8 - 'Add' and 'Take away' / Picture Graphs
Page 9 - Fraction - Decimal - Percentage / Visual Discrimination

Page 10 and Page 11 (262k)
Page 10 - One to One Correspondence / Visual Memory
Page 11 - Graphs / 'Lots of' - Multiplication

Page 12 and Page 13 (203k)
Page 12 - Problem Solving / Months of the Year
Page 13 - Percentages / The Value of Money

Page 14 and Page 15 (344k)
Page 14 - Counting / Combinations to Ten
Page 15 - Averages / Days of the Week

Page 16 and Page 17 (236k)
Page 16 - Adding - Renaming / Subtracting - Renaming
Page 17 - Multiplication - Continued Addition / Multiplication - Partial Products

Page 18 and Page 19 (142k)
Page 18 - Division - Continued Subtraction / Months - Weeks - Days
Page 19 - Index Notation / Estimating Seconds

Page 20 and Page 21 (241k)
Page 20 - Least Number of Coins / Kilograms - Grams
Page 21 - 24 Hour Time / Tonnes - Kilograms

Page 22 and Page 23 (129k)
Page 22 - Decimals / Centuries - Decades - Years
Page 23 - Temperature - Estimation / Centimetres - Millimetres

Page 24 and Page 25 (195k)
Page 24 - Creating Number Sequences / Metres - Centimetres
Page 25 - Cents to Dollars and Cents / Kilometres - Metres

Page 26 and Page 27 (129k)
Page 26 - Expanding and Contracting Numbers / Hours - Minutes
Page 27 - Reading and Writing Numbers / Minutes - Seconds

Page 28 and Page 29 (179k)
Page 28 - Largest and Smallest Number / Large Numbers
Page 29 - Ordering / Bases Other Than Ten

Page 30 and Back Cover 155k)
Page 30 - Unnecessary Zeros / Rounding