Have you ever wondered how many people you walk past on an average day? How many of them are wearing green shirts, or listening to music, or carrying a briefcase? In this activity, you will observe the people around you and then use column addition.
First, think of one feature to observe and count. For instance, you might count how many people are talking on their cell phones, or how many people are pushing a stroller, or how many people are wearing black shoes.
With a parent, go to a place that has a lot of people-such as a public park, a mall, or a city street-and observe the people that go past you for about half an hour. Count how many of them match the feature you are looking for. Keep a tally on a piece of paper.
Then, go to another public place for another half hour. Again, count how many people match your feature.
Finally, go to one more public place and repeat the process.
Once you have your three numbers, use column addition to add them all together. Come up with a total number of how many people you saw who matched the feature you were looking for. Did this number surprise you? Did you expect to see more people or fewer?
Ready to move on to the next lesson?
Column Addition Basics
