In math, what are “exploding dots?” I work with students and one of them is taking a course called Exploding Dots. I thought it sounded fun so I looked it up—I’m having trouble even understanding the concept of it, much less how it actually works.

Question

In math, what are “exploding dots?” I work with students and one of them is taking a course called Exploding Dots. I thought it sounded fun so I looked it up—I’m having trouble even understanding the concept of it, much less how it actually works.

In: 483

Answer 1

A different way to conceptualize number bases.

Think of it like “carrying the 1” in the old way of teaching math. Once you have more than 10 (or whatever number base you’re in) in a given space, you have to add it to the next space.

In an exploding dot box, say you have 14 in the box. When you move a dot to the next box, 10 dots explode from the first box, leaving 4 behind and they move up to the next base as 1 dot, essentially “carrying the 1”.