The emphasis in mathematic teaching is on the development of conceptual understanding. Why do we need to teach conceptual understanding versus procedural understanding? Does the student really need to understand the basis for mathematics operations rather than just learning how to manipulate numbers and symbols? The obvious advantage of developing a conceptual understanding is that the understanding can be easily applied to new situations and new problems. A less obvious reason is that conceptual understanding of mathematics is a necessary part of teaching the point of mathematics to students as the level of mathematics becomes more and more complex through high school and college.