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Missing Number: 7 + ? = 12

The same arithmetic with the gap moved: 7 + ? = 12 instead of 7 + 5 = ?. It is a much bigger change than it looks.

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What it teaches

Finding the number that is missing from a sum, wherever it sits. A child who can do 7 + 5 often stalls on 7 + ? = 12, because the second one cannot be answered by working left to right. It has to be turned around.

That turning around is the beginning of algebra, several years before the word is used. It is also what makes subtraction make sense: 12 โˆ’ 7 is the question "what do I add to 7 to reach 12?" written a different way.

How it works

A sum appears with one number replaced by a box, and the box is not always at the end. The child types what belongs there. The number range follows whichever of the six levels is set, so this game grows with the child rather than staying at one size.

A wrong answer keeps the sum on screen and brings the help: first a nudge, then a picture that shows the two known numbers and the gap between them, then the answer.

What to look for

If a child can do Adding and taking away to 20 easily but struggles here, nothing is wrong โ€” this is the harder task, and it is the one that matters more. Reading it aloud as "seven and how many more makes twelve" is usually enough to unlock it.

Expect it to be slow at first even for a child who is quick at ordinary sums.

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