This is a purely teaching program with no entertainment features. Its aims are to teach the principles of decimals to the nine to 14 year age group and to monitor their progress.

This includes the four basic arithmetical operations and the arrangement of numbers in ascending or descending order. There are graded tests to assess progress.

In creating this program, the author has devised the most boring thing since a party political broadcast. Had it been given to a class of children by a real teacher, the class would have fallen asleep or rioted.

The programmer seems to have forgotten that even the under nines use decimals every day and that basic knowledge should be built upon.

No comparisons with fractions were given, which, combined with illustrations would have been useful.

In fact, no illustrations were used at all. Instead, numbers were put on the screen and the user was told to write the examples in their note books.

This last point negates the value of a computer since a teacher could do this with 20 plus children while a computer only does it with 2 or 3.

In all a poor program, which at its best, is a good, albeit expensive, cure for insomnia.

M.W.