I recall having to memorize the tables in third grade.

Teacher used flash cards.

I memorized them... but to tell you the truth, I think the best way to learn and understand math, is NOT to memorize it. If you understand it so that you are able to do what you do in your head or even on paper, you are really at an advantage. It's sad the number of people who have only learned to memorize and then when they forget, or didn't learn/memorize a certain math concept, they have no idea how to figure it out.

It's never too late to memorize your times tables though. And, by the way, even though I did have to memorize my times tables when younger, I don't rememeber half the time what 9X8 is anyway! I have to do what you do too.

I think I was in third grade too. I had to stay "in" from recess because I missed to many on the flash card test. I still have to remember 8's, and 9's. But, we never went past 11's, ever. My Dad taught me 12's, because he said it was very important to know about "dozens".

I think of all my school years, the fourth grade was the toughest for me. Long division and remainders. Once I caught on it was easy. But, I struggled.

Gayle

Always enjoyed numbers more than anything else in the world!

Multipling is easy if you take something you like and use it instead of numbers.

9's have a easy outcome... answer always = 9 when you add the digits up

9x2 = 18 1+8=9
9x7 = 63 6+3=9

Next step to it being easy... EVERYONE knows what 10x7 is
So you know that 9x7 has to be less then 70 and in the 60's * 6 + what equals 9 and TA DA 63!

Works for the small single digits

We would play counting by 7's or 3's for drinking games... and when someone got it wrong, it switched directions... yes we liked numbers! :o)

I learned them in 3rd grade by a multiplication table - a big board like the one below. My daughter also learned in 3rd grade, but they didn't have a board, so I got some construction board and wrote it out for her. Jordan is learning now in 4th grade. Don't know when the school system changed it.

{{gwi:1564056}}

It's never too late to practice and learn them. Begin one finger at one number factor on top. Begin another finger (on your other hand) at the other number factor on the left. Move each finger toward each other. The fingers meet at the answer. You can print this out, or there's a much bigger one to print {{gwi:1564055}}. Hover your mouse over and a resize button will appear. Click the button for the big version to print.

that's why god gave us fingers and toes, right?

You're never too old to learn. Print the table and stick it on your fridge - just keep reading it. We had to go up to 13x13 but I only mentally captured 12x12.

I think colours not numbers anyway.

Alisande, you came across one of my pet peeves (I'm coming to the realization that I have a lot more peeves than the average person). I went to catholic school and had the 12 times tables on the inside cover of our marble copybooks DRILLED into my head on a daily basis by the nuns. I'm of the opinion that it's the most useful & valuable bit of knowledge I ever got there, way more than those French Revolution and when-was-the-Ming-Dynasty studies ever did for me.

When my own children went to grammar school I was shocked and dismayed that they didn't stress them in school the way they did 'back in the day'. I asked a teacher about it at a parents night and was told that they had a different mindset now and they weren't that important! Bull....!!!

That night I announced to my three kids that from now on they had to write them down for me after dinner every night before I would allow the TV to be turned on. Not all 12 at first; the first 4 and then after a while 6, etc. They diidn't like it but accepted it after a few days.

By no means do I think I'm a great parent - far from it. However besides setting a good evample as much as possible I think that force-feeding the times tables to them may have been among the greatest things I've ever done from them. The oldest has an accounting degree and the youngest is a math major. Number 2 does not use a great deal of math on the job but could if she had to.

I remember having that board too!! It brings good memories!!!

But I think depending on what YOU liked in school, if you brought up a diagram of nouns/verbs/adjectives I would have a grey cloud over my head!

Thanks for memory lane!

Rosie

I memorized them at the time...but I can't remember them now...

Plus I sort of cheated when I was a kid....got good grades in math in earlier years...But to me each number had dots which represented their value...I could count the dots faster than the other kids could add them...

I still see the numbers as dots. and still count my dots.

A one of course is a 1
A two the dots are where you put your pencil down and where you pick it up.

A three is where you start, where you come around in the middle and where you pick up your pencil....make sense???

I sure wish I would not have done that when I was little, but I did. I wonder where that came from...?

patti

I know math (or I did know)...then I learned to ten-key. :-)

And who would imagine a professional writer/editor that can't diagram a sentence beyond the noun, verb, adjective and adverb? If I know what looks or sounds right, I figure I don't need to know what all of the parts are. LOL!

Don't remember what grade I learned the times tables in, but I remember having a problem with nines and twelves. Don't remember a board like that.

Patty, I still do the dots!! I don't know why either.

Softball, You get the Father of the Year Award!

Sue

I do dots too, but my dots are the same as dominos. The dots are only used for adding and doesn't help with multiplying.

I had to memorize, but don't remember them always.
The thing that bugs me is "which one is 54 and which is 56!"

Alisande, it's not too late. You can learn them now, and it would be good brain exercise. (Not that I think you need it!)
My second child did not want to learn them, but I forced him, and good thing.

I once kept the scores for a Golf Tournament when I was a Teenager. My Math Teacher handed me his score cards from his team and asked me to total them and put it up on the big board. OMG! My brain froze. I was sooooo embarrassed. It was really easy too, because most of the "holes" were 3,4,5's.

Gayle

Why should I clutter up my brain with memorizing multiplication tables?

That's what calculators are for!

9's are the easiest.

splay out all your 10 fingers in front of you.

9x5. Bend down your 5th finger. There are now 4 on the left and 5 on the right. 45!

9x7 Bend down the 7th finger (right hand pointer) Now there are 6 on the left and 3 on the right. 63!

Easy Peasy! It works for all the 9's! Up to 10, of course!

But please don't ask me the 6's, 7's or 8's!

The above reminds me of those old chismbop commercials with Fred MacMurray.

Found some tricks here. Looks like fun

Here's the one for multiplying 11
To multiply any two digit number by 11:

For this example we will use 54.
Separate the two digits in you mind (5__4).
Notice the hole between them!
Add the 5 and the 4 together (5+4=9)
Put the resulting 9 in the hole 594. That's it! 11 x 54=594
The only thing tricky to remember is that if the result of the addition is greater than 9, you only put the "ones" digit in the hole and carry the "tens" digit from the addition. For example 11 x 57 ... 5__7 ... 5+7=12 ... put the 2 in the hole and add the 1 from the 12 to the 5 in to get 6 for a result of 627 ... 11 x 57 = 627
Practice it on paper first!

I just found this post. Feels kind of like the Twilight Zone right now. ..

A Chinese gal in my group and I were talking about math a few minutes ago and how multiplication used to be taught in Taiwan. No times table grid just plain old humiliation.

The teacher would make everyone in class stand up and then shout out a multiplication problem like 5x6. The first hand that shot up got to give the answer. If it was correct, they sat down. The last students standing felt humiliated and made it a point to learn the answers.

She said Taiwan now is teaching multiplication like the US. She didn't mention the times table grid so I mentioned it and she repeated that Taiwan is doing it like the US and the US no longer uses times tables. "WHAT???" I said, "since when?" And then I sat down, logged on to the KT and found this post. eerie

Jodi-

Nines are easy, if you write them down like this:

9 x 1 = 09
9 x 2 = 18
9 x 3 = 27
9 x 4 = 36
9 x 5 = 45
9 x 6 = 54
9 x 7 = 63
9 x 8 = 72
9 x 9 = 81
9 x 10 = 90

Starting at 9 x 6 you just reverse the numbers from 9 x 5.

Funny the stuff you remember...

3rd grade, Mrs Stephens. We had to learn our times tables and then when we thought we were ready, we'd go up to her desk and she'd quiz us-random numbers. She tracked our progress on the wall with our names on rocketships. I was the first to pass all the numbers! So proud of myself!!

We moved when I was between 2nd and 3rd grade and somehow I missed telling time on a clock/watch face. I'm still bad at it!!

I cannot be sure what I learned in elementary school or what grade, but I know we were expected to know them. I got a refresher course when my oldest was struggling with all the math tables and timed tests in 2nd grade. I became The Queen of Flash Cards and perfected all my memorization.

learned the tables but still have trouble with the 12's

I learned them, then forgot them.

Then I learned them again when DS was in third grade last year, and had to do 100 questions in 10 minutes, and he got 100%!

And I've mostly forgotten them again

I remember drilling on the times tables in third grade,my teacher was Mrs. Rotterman. Anything after 9 X 9 I still have difficulty with, but that's why we have calculators, teehee!

We learned them in 5th grade. The schools were on half day session because an earthquake had destroyed or damaged some of the schools in my town. I was also absent a lot that year so I didn't learn the 9s as well as I should have. We only had to memorize them through the 9s. As an adult I finally learned the 9s. I probably learned them really well when I used to drill DS with flash cards.

LOL At all of your memories. I taught third grade 11 years and I still have "kids" come up to me and tell me that they remember learning their's and what kind of candy bar or soft drink they asked for! LOL This was before dietary regulations were so strict in schools. My kids worked and worked hard for their favorite JUNK FOOD! LOL

I had to memorize them too plus the divison table too. We all did it back then in the early 60's. I think I was in 4th grade. And then I amazed myself when my son had to learn them by remembering them! We also had to learn and memorize fractions and percentages which I still use today when there are sales! (Like 30% off etc.)
Clare

At minimum, you need to know the 'times' table up through 9 x 9 in order to perform multiplication of two numners where one or both are larger than a single digit. I was taught the table in the second grade. My mother drilled my sister and me all one summer while we were working outside together. You can not advance in math without being able to multiply and perform long division, both of which require quick multiplications. It's a tool that is needed throughout your lifetime.

We had flash cards made from index cards and I still remember them.

My kids learned in Second Grade! And they had huge timed tests every week - so they really had to know them. Same for addition/subtraction.

My kids can add/subtract/multiply/divide huge numbers in their heads - it is amazing. I am a poor math student, but I NEVER told my kids that. I always pushed the importance of math - even if you hate it. I never let them slide on that one - reading either.

They are all bumped up a grade in their math classes. DD will have one full year of college credit math before she graduates high school.

I still get that "deer in the headlights" feeling when I have to work a math problem in front of people. Even making change gets me flustered. I don't have any problem doing it - I just get very tense at first - and keep going over it to make sure I have counted back right.

I memorized them, and I never forgot them.

But my daughter, who has a degrees in mathematics and statistics, never had to memorize them, and will still hesitate when I out of the blue ask, "What's nine times seven?"

I hated math! HATED it! I just did not understand any of the concepts that went along with it! But my math whiz dad(he was a computer programer!) thought that having me sit on a hard kitchen chair every single day while he quizzed me on the times tables while telling me how stupid I was be cuase I didn't get it right would somehow force the information into my head!
No, I still can't go much further than maybe half way through the 7's.
By the 8th grade I even failed basic math, I just didn't understand it! Never took Algebra. My kids did tho and whizzed right through it. By about the 5th grade I couldn't even help them with their math homework, they'd have to call my sister and ask her how to do things.
Don't even ask me about fractions, either!!!!

It was 3rd grade in my school district too..HOWEVER..not now..they want to teach them the concept of how you arrive at the answer...Memorizing them makes it so much easier..FOREVER.. but everything is "how,why and WASL!"
We used the grid too..
The distict doesn't use memorized multiplication..however they do need to know up to 12 by 5th grade to consider it "passing" math...
RIDICULOUS!!!!!

I gave an answer earlier (and I do believe that is what calculators are for) but I've decided to share a bit too.

The multiplication facts are taught in third grade here. My third grade teacher would just randomly call on students and quiz them on the times tables.

I started getting stomach aches at math time every day (guess why) and was sent to the nurse. The stomach aches were real, but after a while the teacher stopped sending me out.

I could do the 9s, because of the tricks others have mentioned, but the 6s, 7s and 8s killed me.

As an adult I chose to become, of all things, an elementary school teacher. One reason for that is wanting to do a better job than the teachers I had.

I know now that some people are visual and kinesthetic learners, meaning that they learn best from physically doing, seeing, moving things around. Not just listening to a lecture or trying to memorize things.

I was surprised to find that, bad as I had been at arithmetic, math is one of my favorite subjects to teach! Many materials are available now that make it fun and meaningful for the students.

I was in 3rd grade for a month before I was promoted to 4th. I had learn longhand and my "time tables' in one weekend

I have a problem with numbers. I can't remember dates or prices because they just don't have meaning for me. Letters and words have colour and feel and taste and sound, but numbers? Nada. I didn't take math until grade 5, and boy did it kill me. I had the best teacher who really tried to help me learn the times tables, but let's face it. When you can't even add single digit numbers, no way can you learn to multiply and divide without a fight.

Math came hard to me, but it wasn't impossible. I took high school and university level math classes and passed, even got very good grades. But it just didn't come easy to me and was a LOT of work.

I learnt a method of adding large numbers, called "chunking". You remove chunks of easily added numbers, then deal with the bits left over. So if adding 123 and 234, instead of starting with the 3 and 4, you start with the 1 and 2. I would do it this way:

Three hundreds, fifty, and seven. 357. Multiplication can be "chunked" as well by memorizing just a few from each number, then working from there. I know what 6x6 is (36). So 6x12 is double that so 72 - 60, chunk the ten from 12 so 70 plus 2). It seems complicated, but I can do it very quickly, almost automatically.

But I still don't know all the "times tables".

What a great response from everyone!! I love all your tricksÂthanks!

When we were learning the times tables, I was in the hospital with Rheumatic Fever for 2 weeks. Then I missed an additional month afterward. Soooo, the times tables meant nothing to me. I still have problems with some of the numbers. However, there are some that came easy for me. Take 36's. I can do them like crazy. Go figure. 12's, same thing. Ask me 7 thru 9? Not on your life. I hated math. Still do. And like Marry...having to sit at the table and try to learn them while my step dad was screaming at me, didn't work. It just made me hate it even more. Thankfully, when I was going to school, we weren't required to have anything more than basic math to graduate. Algebra? Forget it. I have never understood the need. LOL I have also used the point system. But it isn't like the one mentioned here. And if I really need to know something...I can figure it out. It may take me a little longer, but I will get it. And division? It has been so long, that I have a tough time with it.

Try the calculation game on www.dol88.com

My children enjoyed it!

Bye

Thank you very much Jack for www.dol88.com

Very original presentation:

Moreover a module of the software is able to show the calculations techniques in a step by step way that is very efficient for learning.

Best regards

Brigitte

For some reason, I learned the multiplication tables really easily, but had more trouble with subtraction in the higher numbers 12 and over.
Lu

There's a 15 min. program on our national radio called "Out Front" which encourages individuals to bring a story that interests them to share with us.

Yesterday a young woman who has wanted all of her life to be a singer came and told us how, though she can sing very well, she can not read the music.

She has some trouble reading, sometimes putting the letters together into words.

Her mother knew at age 3 that some things were wrong with her thinking.

It turned out that she had dyslexia.

She has learned a number of ways to compensate, but tables and patterns of letters and numbers, or such things as the patterns of notes on staffs and the other items of instruction on sheet music is extremely difficult ... quite a lot she can figure out, but it takes time. In music, one doesn't have that extra time!

I found it an interesting explanation and discussion of dyslexia.

Good wishes for learning how to make your brain work well ... it's the only one you have ... and so far they haven't learned how to transplant 'em!

ole joyful