ARITHMETIC(6) BSD ARITHMETIC(6)
NAME
arithmetic - provide drill in number facts
SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/arithmetic [ +-x/ ] [ range ]
DESCRIPTION
arithmetic presents simple arithmetic problems, and waits for you to type
an answer. If the answer is correct, it replies ``Right!'', and supplies
a new problem. If the answer is wrong, it replies ``What?'', until you
respond correctly.
The first optional argument determines the kind of problem to be
generated. A plus sign (+), minus sign (-), lowercase x, and a slash (/)
produce addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems
respectively. Specifying more than one of these characters on a command
line generates a variety of problem types, all mixed in random order.
Specifying any characters other than the four mentioned here also
produces a random mix of problem types. If you specify no argument to
arithmetic, subtraction problems appear by default.
The second optional argument is range, a decimal number. If used, all
addends, subtrahends, differences, multiplicands, divisors, and quotients
will be less than or equal to this number. The default range is 10.
At the start, all numbers less than or equal to range are equally likely
to appear. If the respondent makes a mistake, the numbers in the problem
which was missed become more likely to reappear.
Every twenty problems, it publishes statistics on correctness and the
time required to answer. Specifically, the program tells you the number
of correct and incorrect answers that you have given, as well as the
total percentage of those correct. It also tells you how much time (in
seconds) has elapsed, and the average number of seconds it took you to
answer each problem. For example, the program may output something like
this:
Rights 20; Wrongs 1; Score 95%
Total time 50 seconds; 2.5 seconds per problem
To quit the program, type an interrupt (usually CTRL/C).
NOTES
As a matter of educational philosophy, arithmetic does not supply correct
answers, since the learner should be able to calculate them. Thus, it
does not try to teach number facts, but instead serves as a drill program
for those just past the first learning stage of arithmetic. Usually, the
most relevant statistic it provides is time per problem, not percent
correct.