Hi

James M. Clark
Professor of Psychology
204-786-9757
204-774-4134 Fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 28-Jan-07 1:11:00 AM >>>
Tell the truth, how long has it been since you actually carried out a
long division with pencil and paper?

As just as one illustration of the possible importance of long
division, I was teaching randomization using SPSS the other day and had
to spend a little time explaining the idea of a remainder in order to
explain how modulus arithmetic works.  The modulus operator is used to
generate repeated cycles when preparing an experimental design (i.e., 1
2 3 4 1 2 3 4 ...).  Mod(x, y) is the remainder when x is divided by y
(e.g., 5 mod 4 = 1).  There may be other situations when remainders
(i.e., long division?) are important?

And it perhaps should be pointed out that there is a considerable
psychological literature on mathematics, including mental calculation
algorithms (e.g., Campbell & Charness's work on a squaring algorithm
with young and old participants).

Take care
Jim



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