Rigel Kent

Long division of numbers is usually taught in primary schools to children as one of the basic arithmetic skills. Consider, for example, $486 \div 5$. It technically requires the child to atomize $486$ into blocks of fives. There are a few ways to handle this problem. Since we know that $90 \times 5 = 450$, one way to do $486 \div 5$ is: $$\begin{align}486 &= (\mathbf{90} \times 5) + (480 - \mathbf{90} \times 5) + 6\\ &= (90 \times 5) + 30 + 6\\ &= (90 \times 5) + (6 \times 5) + (5 + 1)\\ &= (90 + 6 + 1)\times 5 + 1\\ &= 97 \times 5 + 1 \end{align}$$ We can also repeat the process with a different seed number, for instance, instead of $90$, we can start with $80$: $$\begin{align}486 &= (\mathbf{80} \times 5) + (480 - \mathbf{80} \times 5) + 6\\ &= (80 \times 5) + 80 + 6\\ &= (80 \times 5) + (50 + 30) + (5 + 1)\\ &= (80 + 10 + 6 + 1)\times 5 + 1\\ &= 97 \times 5 + 1 \end{align}$$ This essentially means that $486$ can be a...

In 1960, Bahasa Melayu was gradually dosed into our national schools as the language of instruction. But it wasn't until 1970 that the Bahasa Melayu paper in MCE (Malaysia Certificate of Education) was renamed to Bahasa Malaysia and was made a compulsory subject. It means that you need to pass your Bahasa Malaysia in order to pass your MCE. And in order to get into Form Six, which was then the only way for a middle class student to get a university education, a pass was not good enough, at least a weak credit is needed to secure a seat in HSC (Higher School Certificate). The introduction of the Bahasa Malaysia July Paper was essential because a lot of good students failed to obtain a pass or a credit when they sat for their Bahasa Malaysia paper for the first time. The MCE 1972 result, as announced by the then Education Minister , Inche Hussain Onn, on Wednesday, 4 April 1973 Group Passed Failed Bahasa General failure Total ...