Math Story : Identity property of addition
Triho And The Riddle
“Such a boring day, can you give me some task?” says Triho. “Alright! How about a riddle?” answers UncleMath. Due to his interest in solving problems and puzzles, Triho immediately agrees. He seems thrilled.
“So here is the riddle: Whenever I get added to any number, the number does not change. Its identity remains the same. What number am I? ” says UncleMath. “Eh? Identity? Number?” says confused Triho. He does not understand anything. But Uncle Math does not listen and asks him to come back with the answer by the end of the day.
Worried and confused, Triho immediately starts solving the riddle. He reads and repeats it multiple times to understand it better. Unable to find the solution, he says, “Idea! Cirha might help me with this.” Saying this, he rushes to Cirha’s house.
“Hey, Cirha! I need to solve this riddle given by Uncle Math. The riddle is: Whenever I get added to any number, the number does not change. Its identity remains the same. What number am I?” says Triho.
Cirha seems confused too.
“Got it! The answer is a mirror”, says excited Cirha. “A mirror? How?” questions Triho. “Whenever we look into a mirror, our identity remains the same, right?” she explains. “But, the riddle says the answer is a number Cirha!” says the frustrated Triho and he leaves.
Unable to find the answer yet, Triho seems low. “I can do it! I will not give up so easily”, he says to himself. Seeing him sad, Squarho questions”, What happened to you today?” He narrates everything to him. Squarho is ready to help him to find the answer.
“Got it! The answer is a gadget. Only through a gadget, this is possible”, says Squarho. But is he right?
No! Squarho is wrong too. Triho is even more frustrated and disappointed now.
“I can do it! I will not give up so easily”, he thinks. Triho decides to solve the riddle all alone. He grabs some apples and starts placing them here and there to find the solution.
Suddenly, he starts jumping with joy. Without wasting a minute, he rushes to Uncle Math’s house. It looks like he has found the solution. Did you also find the solution along with Triho? What is the answer?
Seeing Triho so happy, Uncle Math understands that he is back with the answer. “The answer is number 0″, says Triho. Not convinced yet, UncleMath asks him to explain the process he followed to find the solution.
“I will explain. So here I have 5 green apples. Now I am adding nothing to them. So I get 5 green apples only. This ‘nothing’ is equal to 0 right! So 5+0 = 5” explains Triho. He is proud of himself.
UncleMath is proud too. Triho has completed his task. “Absolutely right! Whenever we add 0 to any number, the result is the number itself. That is because 0 means nothing. So when nothing is added, the number does not lose its identity and remains the same. This is the Identity property of addition”, he explains.
“Wow! I solved Identity Property of Addition”, says Triho. “This was possible because I kept pushing myself and did not give up”, he continues. Uncle Math agrees and pats him for his discipline and motivation.
We Learnt That…
- Whenever we add zero to a number, the result is the number itself. This is called the Identity Property of addition
- We should not give up easily.
- Self-discipline and self-motivation help us achieve our goals.
Let’s Discuss
- What was the riddle?
- What was the solution suggested by Cirha and Squarho?
- What was the real solution? How did I find it?
- “I can do it! I will not give up so easily.” What do you understand by this?
Please refer this guide by Fun2Do Labs for teaching properties of addition to kids :
