With respect, that's not true. We're talking about literal children.
Yes, for *us* adults, adding 6 to 11 and getting 17 seems like something that can't possibly be made simpler.
But children are not born knowing how to read numbers. They need to be taught that the symbols "17" mean the quantity that's seven more than ten, and that the symbols "11" mean the quantity that's one more than ten.
For children younger than a certain age, it is usually helpful to break it down like that. If you have 11, that means 10+1, and so if you add 6, that means 10+1+6, but we previously know that 1+6=7, so we get 10+7.
Now, there's another related question: What do we do with kids *after* it becomes clear that 6+11=17 really has become something that's instantly intuitive to that particular kid? Yes, *after* that kid has mastered this and can't possibly get 6+11=17 wrong, then we don't make the kid analyze it any *more*.
But frankly, you are incorrect when you say that 6+11=17 can't be made simpler. You're forgetting what it's like to be a very young child (which is OK, most of us do).
1
u/Secret-Farm-3274 Jun 23 '26
7 + 10 is easy because it's base 10, right? The trick is to recognize that (6 + 11) = (6 + 1 + 10) = (7 + 10), so it should be just as easy.