What's This Number

What's This Number is a user-friendly and lightweight software solution designed as a Text to Speech utility, in the attempt to teach children the correct name of large numbers.

The application is quite simple and easy to use, relying on a set of 9 reels, like the ones in an odometer, allowing users to create numbers up to nine digits long. For this, they can use the ten sides of the reels to generate the different combinations, by moving them up and down with the computer mouse.

The reels are organized in 'Units', 'Thousands' and 'Millions', so children can learn the position of each digit in large numbers. Once the combination has been created, users can press the 'Tell Me' button and the utility will begin to read aloud the number on the screen. They are also written in the field bellow the reels, enabling kids to learn its accurate transcription into words.

Moreover, What's This Number allows users to perform various basic mathematical operations, namely addition and subtraction. By left-clicking on a column, users can add numbers, while the right-click lets them do subtraction operations.

What's This Number can prove very handy in teaching young children and students how to pronounce numbers correctly, useful particularly in the case of larger strings of digits, which can sometimes cause trouble even for adults. Similarly, the application can be helpful in the case of people who wish to learn English, as it can provide them with the means of gradually advancing their knowledge, while the 'Style' menu enables them to select the preferred pronunciation, either 'British' or 'American', depending on which they prefer.

To conclude, What's This Number is an efficient and reliable program developed as a teaching aid for educators, proving a useful instrument for children as well as older students who need to learn the right pronunciation of numbers.