Numeration is the key to mathematical thinking and tomost of the mathematical processes that students
will meet and need. Understanding how numbers are named,what the symbols used for them represent
via place value and exponential notation, and how they are renamed in various equivalent forms
underpins comparison, computation and every dayapplications (Booker, et al, 2004). Such an
understanding also provides a basis for the generalisation of these ideas to the algebraic thinking that
underpins all of higher mathematics.