Max Maths, Year 4, Practice, Bridging 100s

Max Maths Year 4 provides students with a series of mental arithmetic exercises aimed at enhancing their ability to perform calculations involving numbers that are near to multiples of one hundred. The 'Let’s Try It' section challenges students to calculate sums and differences mentally and encourages them to note down their strategies. For example, adding 8 to 298 can be seen as approaching the next hundred, making it a straightforward calculation to reach 306. Similarly, subtracting 4 from 501 is a simple step back to just below the hundred mark, resulting in 497. These exercises are designed to help students recognise and utilise the proximity to 'bridging' hundreds to simplify mental calculations.

In the 'Let’s Practise' section, students are prompted to find answers to addition and subtraction problems in their heads, with the option of using a number line for support. This section includes slightly more complex calculations, such as adding 27 to 572, where students might consider adding 30 and then subtracting 3 to find the answer. The exercises range from simple bridging, like adding 7 to 199, to more challenging questions that require subtracting a two-digit number from just over a hundred, such as 203 minus 9. These tasks are crafted to build confidence in mental arithmetic and to develop an intuitive understanding of number relationships, particularly as they cross the hundreds boundary.