What is a number bond?
What is a number bond? It’s simple. Number bonds are pairs of numbers that are added to make another number. Because of this, they are often referred to as number pairs. They are perfect for helping children quickly solve addition and subtraction questions and assisting them with their timetables.
They are sometimes taught using diagrams.
Why teach number bonds?
Number bonds are a fantastic tool for helping children with maths as they apply it to various topics, such as times tables, addition, and subtraction. Encouraging children to memorize number bonds to 10 can help them solve simple addition and subtraction sums much quicker and more confidently.
Teaching number bonds will help children to build a strong sense of the relationships between different numbers. If they can recall these from memory, it will give them a significant advantage in tests and assessments.
Benefits of number bonds:
- Essential in helping children get comfortable with mental arithmetic
- Make using inverse operations easier
- Help with everyday mental arithmetic as an adult
- Easy to memorize and will have a significant impact
Number bond examples
Below are some examples of number bonds for different numbers.
- Number bonds to 5:
1 and 4
2 and 3
- Number bonds to 10:
9 and 1
8 and 2
7 and 3
6 and 4
5 and 5
- Number bonds to 20:
19 and 1
18 and 2
17 and 3
16 and 4
15 and 5
14 and 6
13 and 7
12 and 8
11 and 9
10 and 10
These number pairs work as simple addition sums.
They can also be completed through number bond diagrams, like the ones below.
