Doing arithmetic (numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)

Hi Susan,

'Égal' is a masculine noun and means the sign,     =

Égale is from the verb égaler and it also means 'equals' , it is just an ER verb ending.

Just the two ways of saying 'equals' in French.

Hope this helps!

 

The microkwiz for this lesson is working now. Thanks for letting us know. 

Note: it's still best to add topics to your notebook and kwiz against that repeatedly if you want to test all the available questions for a topic.

All good now :)

Bonsoir Bonnie,
In fact, I have several different textbooks and each one uses «deux PLUS deux font or egal» in their respective sections discussing math. In keeping with the math terms, i.e. moins, divisé, fois; it makes sense to use plus and not «et».

Bonne soirée.

Ron's right. It is the same in English. You would rather say "2 plus 2 makes/equals four" and not "2 and 2 makes/equals four". In short: use "plus" and not "et". The latter is reserved for enumerations.

-- Chris.

Merci. But here's something from ThoughtCo.com that adds to my confusion.

by Laura K. Lawless
Updated March 04, 2017
Whether you're teaching math operations in French class, planning to study math in a French school, or just interested in knowing French vocabulary from a new domain, this list of French math ​vocabulary will help you on your way.
....
FOR EXAMPLE:
More formal Less formal Familiar
2+2=4 2 plus 2 égale 4 2 et 2 font 4 2 et 2, ça fait 4
2-2=0 2 moins 2 égale 0 2 moins 2 font 0 2 moins 2, ça fait 0
2×2=4 2 multiplié par 2 égale 4 2 fois 2 font 4 2 fois 2, ça fait 4
2÷2=1 2 divisé par 2 égale 1 2 divisé par 2 font 1 2 sur 2, ça fait 1

This was written by Laura Lawless (who is also employed by kwiziq.com, I believe) who is one of my favorite authorities on French language and culture. The Bon Voyage! textbook that is used by my school actually teaches "Deux plus deux, ça fait quatre." which according to the usage chart done by Ms. Lawless is a mixture of the most formal and least formal (familiar).

And Claus, I would add that in American English "One and one is two." is used. "Two and two are/equal(s)/make four." Etc. There was even a song ("Don't Know Much About History") in the mid-late 1960s that used a line something like "But I know that one and one is two, And if this one could be with you, What a wonderful world it would be.".

I apologize that the formatting I copied from ThoughtCo.com and then tried to insert correct spaces into did not transfer into my reply above. I hope that you can see where the "columns" would be or make sense of it!

Bonjour Susan !

Actually I did a bit of research, and the version recommended by the Académie Française, the Littré dictionary and other reliable sources is« Deux multiplié par cinq *égale* dix. » (rather than « … égalent …»).
Thanks to you, I've now updated the lesson accordingly.

Merci et à bientôt !

Bonjour J,

When égaler means "to equal" you don't need à.

When it means "to compare/rank" you do:

Ce roman n'égale pas à Madame Bovary.

bonjur