Use Column Addition to Add Two Four digit numbers (no exchanging)

In this activity, we are going to practise adding two 4-digit numbers together.

We are not going to be doing any exchanging (also known as carrying) in this activity - you can try some other activities with exchanging when you feel confident.

 

The column method is an efficient method for adding large numbers, so this is what we are going to use.

 

 

Top Tips:

Write each digit clearly.

Check the digits are in the correct order (it is easy to muddle them up!)

Make sure each digit is in the correct column.

Start at the ones and work towards the left-hand column (this will help when we start to exchange!)

It can be useful to use squared paper if you are writing out the questions.

 

Example

We are going to add together 2,354 + 3,345 

 

We set out the question as shown in the example above.

Each digit must go in the correct column as shown.

 

We then add the columns together, starting with the ones column.

We write the answer at the bottom as shown.

 

Things get trickier when we cross ten and need to exchange (or carry), but we will look at this in another activity.

 

 

Now why don't you have a go at answering some questions using this method?

 

You can look at this example at any point by clicking on the red help button on the screen.