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Which four basic operations are used in arithmetic?
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arithmetic
A page from a first-grade workbook typical of “new math” might state: “Draw connecting lines from triangles in the first set to triangles in the second set. Are the two sets equivalent in number?”
The four primary operations used in arithmetic are:
- Addition: Combining one or more addends to produce a sum.1
- Subtraction: Removing a subtrahend from a minuend to find the difference.1
- Multiplication: Repeatedly adding a multiplicand to itself based on a multiplier to produce a product.1
- Division: Splitting a dividend by a divisor to determine a quotient, which may result in a remainder.1
While these four operations are the most fundamental, arithmetic also encompasses broader processes such as raising numbers to powers and the extraction of roots.2