Rethinking The Number Line

Rethinking The Number Line

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Turning that horizontal number lines vertical can let you use relevant reference points to understand how to use it

Englishman John Wallis used the number line to help understand negative values of a variable. Your 3rd grader needs to solve for the expression -4-5 using a number line. Ironically, introducing negative integers to natural numbers can add confusion. What do you do? You should rethink how numbers are represented.

Positioning numbers vertically can be more intuitive when comparing greater and lesser values. Say you play a video game and the “higher” your score the better you performed. The idea of a “higher” number can translate better if one number is visibly higher than another. So if someone has a negative value standing/ranking/value already, subtracting a number reduces the standing/ranking/value further “down” (e.g., -4-5 = -9). The correlation between the use of our words and the direction of the numbers should be clearly understood.

Positioning numbers vertically can have a great effect on ones understanding of coordinate planes You will see both a horizontal axis and a vertical axis on a coordinate plane, so both are relevant. Replacing “left” with “down” and “right” with “up” can help you use relevant reference points when comparing numbers. There may also be an argument for vertical positioning when considering three-dimensions. But, just using more vertical positioning of numbers can help improve insight into ways students measure, count and calculate.

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