TipSheet Times - Tables 01
TipSheet Times - Tables 01
TipSheet Times - Tables 01
Using the method below, you can teach your students their tables in less than a week. (If you set
aside five or ten minutes a day to work with students who need extra help, the pay-off will be
enormous.) There is really no reason for your students not to know their tables!
4 6 8 6 9 12 8 12 16 10 15 20
10 15 20 25
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
If you know how to count by 2s 3s, 4s and 5s, then you can multiply by any combination of these numbers. For
instance, to find the product 3 2, count by 2s until you have raised 3 fingers.
2 4 6
32=6
Here is another useful fact about the nine times table: Multiply 9 by any number between 1 and 10 and look at the
tens digit of the product. The tens digit is always one less than the number you multiplied by:
9 4 = 36 9 8 = 72 9 2 = 18
You can find the product of 9 and any number by using the two facts given above. For instance, to find
9 7, follow these steps:
Step 1: 9 X 7 = __ __ 9 X 7 = 6 __
Subtract 1 from the number Now you know the tens digit
you are multiplying by 9: 7 - 1 = 6 of the product.
TEACHERS:
Make sure your students know how to subtract (by counting on their fingers if necessary) before you teach
them the trick for the nine times table.
Give a test on Step 1 (above) before you move on.
Step 2:
9 7 = __
6 __ 9 7 = __6 __
3
Step 1: You can find the ones digit of the first five Step 3: You can find the ones digit of the next five
multiples of 8, by starting at 8 and counting backwards multiples of 8 by repeating step 1:
by 2s. 8
8 6
6 4
4 2
2 0
0
Step 2: You can find the tens digit of the first five Step 4: You can find the remaining tens digits by starting
multiples of 8, by starting at 0 and count up by 1s. at 4 and count up by 1s.
08
16 48
24 56
32 64
40 72
80
(Of course you don't need to write the 0 in front
of the 8 for the product 1 8.)
Practice writing the multiples of 8 (up to 80) until you have memorized the complete list. Knowing the patterns in the
digits of the multiples of 8 will help you memorize the list very quickly. Then you will know how to multiply by 8:
8 6 = 48
Count by eight until you have 6 fingers up: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48
And if you know how to multiply by 5 up to 5 5, then you also know how to multiply by 6 up to 6 5! Thats
because you can always calculate 6 times a number by calculating 5 times the number and then adding the number itself
to the result. The pictures below show why this works for 6 4:
6 4 = 5 4 + 4 = 20 + 4 = 24
Similarly: 6 2 = 5 2 + 2; 6 3 = 5 3 + 3; 6 5 = 5 5 + 5.
6 6 = 36; 6 7 = 42
And since you also already know 1 7 = 7, you only need to memorize 5 facts:
If you are able to memorize your own phone number, then you can easily memorize these 5 facts!
Try this test every day until you have learned your times tables: