Adding Money Resources

When students first learn to add, they’ll likely use simple objects that can be counted on one hand. While this is good for learning the concept and the basic addition facts that are necessary in future mathematical concepts, adding more complex things like money will likely be used more often in the real world.

American money comes in two forms: dollars and cents. It is important to label each of these in money math. The smallest whole unit of money is the dollar. One dollar is made up of one hundred cents. While it is correct to write $1, it is common to include the cents in the form of a decimal attached to the whole dollar: $1.00.

Adding money is not much different from multi-digit addition problems. When writing out a money math problem, the problem is written vertically, with the two addends above a vinculum. A vinculum is the horizontal line that represents the equal sign in a vertical math problem.

One difference between adding money and standard addition is that, even whole dollar amounts should be written with a decimal point to a precision of two places, or the hundredths in order to show the cents. The two addends should have their decimal points aligned to ensure that the dollars and cents in the sum are correct. For example:
   $4.32
+ $4.28
   $8.60
Working with students on a variety of addition problems involving adding money using the resources provided above by Education.com may help them to understand the special requirements of money in math problems.