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TENTEN Mental Arithmetic
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TENTEN Mental Arithmetic.iso
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readme.txt
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1998-02-18
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Extra notes for 10/10 Mental Arithmetic
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CONTENTS
1.......... SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
2.......... SOUND
3.......... GENERAL ADVICE
4.......... CERTIFICATE PRINTING
5.......... THE CHALLENGES WITHIN THE PACKAGE
6.......... CUSTOMISING THE EXERCISES TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS
A.......... TECHNICAL HELP (DOS / WINDOWS)
B.......... TECHNICAL HELP (WINDOWS 95)
1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
This product will run on any computer conforming to the "MPC Level One"
standard and will, in fact, run on much lower specification machines. The
minimum requirements are:
386 processor (486 or above preferable in animated games)
EGA graphics card
Mouse
At least 560Kb of conventional memory
Also, a Sound Blaster compatible sound card required for sound.
2 SOUND
10 out of 10 Mental Arithmetic will operate with any Sound Blaster or compatible sound card but you must set the BLASTER environment string first.
This should have been done automatically for you when you installed the sound
card: a line similar to "SET BLASTER A220 I5 D1" should have been added to
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
If there is no SET BLASTER command you will have to add it, either by using
a setup program included with your sound card, or manually using a text
editor. To do it manually, you need to find out what the settings are first.
3 GENERAL ADVICE
All high scores and results are saved to the hard disk as you exit from the
games. Therefore, IT IS ESSENTIAL that you leave the games using the EXIT
option for them to be saved.
4 CERTIFICATE PRINTING
To print a certificate in graphic form you should select the disk option
after you've selected print certificate. This saves the certificate to hard
disk in one of three formats so it is possible to choose a format suitable
for most drawing packages.
Depending on your system, a default path or filename is given. Note that to
save to floppy disk you must enter the full pathname of the floppy drive
(usually A:\) in front of the chosen filename. The certificate graphic file
will have the name of the player as the filename. This can be loaded into a
drawing package and printed in the usual way.
5 THE CHALLENGES WITHIN THE PACKAGE
When you enter a name you asked if you want to play using easy, medium or hard
Challenges. Easy is intended for Key Stage 1 (Attainment Target2, Levels 2 and
3) of the national curriculum. Medium is for more advanced Key Stage 1 and Key
stage 2 (Attainment Target2, Level 4) and hard is for more advanced exercises.
Once a player selects easy, medium or hard, that player is set to that
difficulty. Once he or she has succeeded at that difficulty the name can
be removed and re-entered at the next difficulty level. Alternatively,
a player can enter his or her name three times snd play on any of the
difficulty levels. For example, Pete_E, Pete_M, and Pete_H.
The challenges within the package are:
EASY
Addition facts up to 10.
Subtraction facts up to 10.
Addition and Subtraction facts up to 20 (not involving carry).
Addition and Subtraction facts up to 20 (involving carry).
The 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
Multiplication and division: The 2, 5 and 10 times tables and all tables to 5x5.
MEDIUM
Multiplication of whole numbers by 10 and 100.
Tables up to 10 times 10.
Addition and Subtraction facts up to 100.
Division facts to 100 (Inverse of tables to 10 x 10).
Addition and Subtraction of numbers to 2 decimal places.
Mutiplication and division of numbers to 1 decimal places.
HARD
Tables up to 12 times 12.
Division facts to 144 (Inverse of tables to 12 x 12).
Addition and subtraction of numbers up to 10000.
Addition and subtraction of money (max ú100).
Multiplication and division of money (max ú100).
Miscellaneous questions from levels 1 ... 5.
These challenges can all be altered to suit your needs - see below.
6 CUSTOMISING THE EXERCISES TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS
Ten out of 10 Mental Arithmetic has three files that determine the questions
that are asked within the games. These are:
Q_easy.dat
Q_med.dat
Q_hard.dat
These are copied to your hard disk during installation and if you chose the
default paths they will be in the directory:
TENTENCD/MENTAL_A/DATA
These files can be edited by parents and teachers so that the software delivers
the exact challenges required. Simply load the files into a text editor (for
example "Notepad") and change them to suit your needs. Details of the file
format you must use are contained within each file.
Corresponding to these three question definition files are three files
containing the text that is displayed for "information" within the progtam.
These are in the same directory as above and are called.
Easyfact.dat
Medifact.dat
Hardfact.dat
You must take extreme care if you edit any of these files. Note that if you do
not exactly follow the file structure the program will fail.
A TECHNICAL HELP (DOS / WINDOWS)
Note: If you are using Windows you may have to quit to DOS to perform some
of the troubleshooting operations described below.
MEMORY
Your 10 out of 10 software requires at least 560K of free conventional
memory. Even if you system has 4Mb or 8Mb of RAM it has 640K of conventional
memory and some of this is used by DOS and devices attached to your
computer. If the 640K is used wisely 10 out of 10 products will run on all
PCs.
If you try to run the software without enough conventional memory a message
informing you will usually be displayed, although in occasional instances
the program may terminate without any warning. To find out how much
conventional memory is available, at the DOS prompt type:
MEM <Enter>
If you want to see exactly where the memory is going and which devices are
using it you can type:
MEM /c /p<Enter>
Note that if you are using Windows this must be done by leaving Windows via
the DOS Prompt option rather than "Exit". Look for the entry "Largest
executable program size" - if the figure is less than 560K you can do one of
the following three things:
1.Run a memory optimising program such as "memmaker" or QEMM's optimize.
This is the easiest way to free conventional memory. Memmaker is available
on MS-DOS 6.0 or later. To run it, at the DOS prompt (if necessary, leave
Windows via Exit) type:
MEMMAKER <Enter>
If you are using a different optimiser, refer to the documentation that came
with it. Note that your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files will be
automatically backed-up by the optimiser. These backups can be used if you
ever need to restore the machine to its previous state.
2.Edit you system configuration files. To do this you must be familiar with
the use of a text editor, for example EDIT in DOS or WRITE in Windows.
First, back-up your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. These files are
located in the root directory of you hard disk and contain commands that
load device drivers and other programs when you start your computer.
You can make more conventional memory available by disabling unnecessary
commands, inserting the word REM at the beginning of the line containing the
unwanted command. The only commands that are essential to the operation of
your 10 out of 10 software are those that refer to your CD-ROM drive and
your mouse. However, you should also include the lines:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
Re-start your computer in order for the changes to take effect.
3.Create a system boot disk. It is much safer to do this than the above
because you don't have to modify your existing settings. You will, however,
need to re-start your computer with the boot disk inserted every time you
want to use the 10 out of 10 software. First, insert a blank disk and, at
the DOS prompt type:
FORMAT A: /S <Enter>
Next, copy your existing configuration files across to this floppy disk:
COPY C:\CONFIG.SYS A: <Enter>
COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT A: <Enter>
To free more conventional memory edit the files as previously described but
REMEMBER TO EDIT THE FILES ON THE DISK IN YOUR a: DRIVE, not on your hard
disk. Re-start your computer with the disk in drive A: for the changes to
take effect.
MOUSE
To run the 10 out of 10 software you need a Microsoft compatible mouse and a
DOS mouse driver installed on your system. Even if your mouse functions in
Windows, you won't be able to use it with any DOS programs unless you have
one of these - you will get the message "Unable to detect Microsoft
compatible mouse" and be returned to DOS prompt if you try.
You should have received a mouse driver disk when you purchased your system
or mouse, or your dealer may have already installed it for you. To find out
if you have a mouse driver installed you can use a diagnostics program such
as MSD which comes with MS-DOS. Alternatively you can run a DOS program that
uses the mouse (e.g. EDIT) and move the mouse around to see if the cursor
moves in tandem.
If you don't have a mouse driver installed you need to find out if there is
one on your hard disk. Use Windows File Manager or DOSSHELL to search for
the file MOUSE.COM. If it is not found you need to obtain a mouse driver and
follow the instructions provided. Then, to activate the mouse driver you
must make a note of the directory containing the MOUSE.COM file and add a
line to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file using a text editor. If MOUSE.COM
was in the directory C:\THEMOUSE, for example, you would add the line
C:\THEMOUSE\MOUSE
to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Re-start your computer your the changes to take
effect.
B Technical Help (Windows 95)
The only problem that you might encounter with the software is a shortage of
available conventional memory, resulting in the program error "Insufficient
available computer memory". Windows 95 provides help for this problem. Select
"help" from the Start Menu. Then, in the "Troubleshooting" section you will
find help "if you run out of memory" and "if you have trouble running MS-DOS
programs".