ABSTRACT
Relative thinking entails more abstraction than absolute thinking and, through relative thinking, we create more complex quantities. In this computer age, students are accustomed to a barrage of sense data; understanding comes from perceptually based data. However, in mathematics, understanding often consists in grasping abstractions imposed upon sense data. Relative thinking is critical in initial fraction instruction. In fraction instruction, relative thinking is entailed in the understanding of several important notions. Measurement lies at the very heart of human activity; humans have always been preoccupied with measuring their universe, and the units and methods of measurement are essential to science. A measurement is always approximate; that is, we can carry out the measurement process to whatever degree of precision is required by the job at hand.
