Subitizing is quickly recognizing and naming the number in a group without counting. “Subitize” comes from the Latin “to arrive suddenly.”

It begins in infancy with a sensitivity to number. Then children learn to recognize very small numbers. Later, they learn to do it quickly-- perceptual subitizing. Another qualitative progression is their ability to see several groups and combine them quickly into one quantity - conceptual subitizing.

Practice-based Research: Children who can quickly recognize numbers, taking a mental “snapshot” of them, without counting, are more able to determine the number of items in a collection, represent that number, and, later, add the numbers.

The word numerals means “written numbers,” such as 1 and 4. These symbols can also be written as number words (one and four). An actual number is the idea of, for example, four things. We might use the word numerals when reading or writing them, but we do not insist that children do so. Also, using numerals to label numbers, as well as representing collections with written symbols, are key steps toward mathematical abstraction. So, they are used in many activities (often linked to verbal number words or dot patterns).