My DC can't learn her multiplication tables, should I just give up?

[Anonymous]

To add to Math Geek's awesome post:

7x8=56. Think: 5, 6, 7, 8

Now you only have 4 more.

[Anonymous]

School House Rock - Multiplication Rocks

I am 400 and I still remember the songs.

We were just watching the 3 and 9 ones the other day.

Typically I find learning in song a lot easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To add to Math Geek's awesome post:

7x8=56. Think: 5, 6, 7, 8

Now you only have 4 more.

Nice... i will add that to my repertoire (which I had to google how to spell, since I am dyslexic)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School House Rock - Multiplication Rocks

I am 400 and I still remember the songs.

We were just watching the 3 and 9 ones the other day.

Typically I find learning in song a lot easier.

I'm 40, smart, and my current job involves a lot of math. I was a economics major and a statistics minor in college. There's a big difference between being good at arithmetic (addition, multiplication, etc) and being good at math in general, like understanding theories and numbers. I still can't add and multiply in my head, but I am good at math. For a long time I had the idea that I was bad at math because I couldn't do the work in my head. I don't know why - I just cannot memorize this stuff. I still try sometimes but it doesn't stick. I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure your kids understand that never getting the hang of this doesn't mean they are bad at math. I cringe when I hear people say that. I guess some people probably are, but getting the message in 2nd grade that you're bad at math when there's so much more interesting math to come is sad. I took an entrance exam for high school and as a result was placed in an advanced math course. I tried to drop it, thinking it was a mistake. It took a high school teacher pretty much forcing me into the class for me to take it. I still have the report card from that first quarter. That 98 is still one of the things I'm most proud of.

[Anonymous]

For 9s you can also just write the numbers 0-9 in a column then write 9-0 right next to it and there are all of your answers for the 9s table X1 through x10

09
18
27
36
45
54
63
72
81
90

I'm the PP that suggested showing how to multiply using addition, and this table taught me nothing but it is still a means to an end!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School House Rock - Multiplication Rocks

I am 400 and I still remember the songs.

We were just watching the 3 and 9 ones the other day.

Typically I find learning in song a lot easier.

I'm 40, smart, and my current job involves a lot of math. I was a economics major and a statistics minor in college. There's a big difference between being good at arithmetic (addition, multiplication, etc) and being good at math in general, like understanding theories and numbers. I still can't add and multiply in my head, but I am good at math. For a long time I had the idea that I was bad at math because I couldn't do the work in my head. I don't know why - I just cannot memorize this stuff. I still try sometimes but it doesn't stick. I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure your kids understand that never getting the hang of this doesn't mean they are bad at math. I cringe when I hear people say that. I guess some people probably are, but getting the message in 2nd grade that you're bad at math when there's so much more interesting math to come is sad. I took an entrance exam for high school and as a result was placed in an advanced math course. I tried to drop it, thinking it was a mistake. It took a high school teacher pretty much forcing me into the class for me to take it. I still have the report card from that first quarter. That 98 is still one of the things I'm most proud of.

+1 being bad at multiplication tables doesn't mean you're bad at math. I was told how "bad at math" I was until high school. Finally, I learned my multiplication tables when I was 17. Fast forward and I have a PhD in statistics. Sometimes, I find myself still having to add six 8's together or something like that.

Does your daughter understand the concepts? That should really be what's important. Math facts can be done on a calculator.

[Anonymous]

Another trick for 9's

The two numbers alway add up to 9.
The 1st number is the number being multiplied - 1

9x2= one less than 2 which is 1 ... what plus 1 =9... 8 so 18
9x3 = one less than 3 which is 2.... what plus 2 =9.... 7 so 27
9x4 ... You know immediately the first number is 3 (4-1) and the second number is 6.... (6+3=9)... 36

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School House Rock - Multiplication Rocks

I am 400 and I still remember the songs.

We were just watching the 3 and 9 ones the other day.

Typically I find learning in song a lot easier.

I'm 40, smart, and my current job involves a lot of math. I was a economics major and a statistics minor in college. There's a big difference between being good at arithmetic (addition, multiplication, etc) and being good at math in general, like understanding theories and numbers. I still can't add and multiply in my head, but I am good at math. For a long time I had the idea that I was bad at math because I couldn't do the work in my head. I don't know why - I just cannot memorize this stuff. I still try sometimes but it doesn't stick. I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure your kids understand that never getting the hang of this doesn't mean they are bad at math. I cringe when I hear people say that. I guess some people probably are, but getting the message in 2nd grade that you're bad at math when there's so much more interesting math to come is sad. I took an entrance exam for high school and as a result was placed in an advanced math course. I tried to drop it, thinking it was a mistake. It took a high school teacher pretty much forcing me into the class for me to take it. I still have the report card from that first quarter. That 98 is still one of the things I'm most proud of.

+1 being bad at multiplication tables doesn't mean you're bad at math. I was told how "bad at math" I was until high school. Finally, I learned my multiplication tables when I was 17. Fast forward and I have a PhD in statistics. Sometimes, I find myself still having to add six 8's together or something like that.

Does your daughter understand the concepts? That should really be what's important. Math facts can be done on a calculator.

On the other hand, I'm great at math facts, have them all down pat but horrible at higher math concepts. Everyone is different! And I have to use algebra all the time at my job. I can do ratios, decimals and percentages and mental math, but that's it. Luckily that's all I need. Whew.

[Anonymous]

Honest question: if you "give up" on this what is next? Is this inability to memorize isolated only to multiplication?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School House Rock - Multiplication Rocks

I am 400 and I still remember the songs.

We were just watching the 3 and 9 ones the other day.

Typically I find learning in song a lot easier.

Just came here to say this!

It works!

[Anonymous]

My son's teacher asked the entire class to memorize the entire Trig circle (degrees and radians) by heart. Apparently one kid was so frustrated he screamed.
She will test them in a limited amount of time.
There is absolutely no need to do so, as all the functions can be derived ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Same here.

My son with extremely low processing speed was finally diagnosed with severe ADHD at the beginning of 5th grade after a disastrous 4th grade year. The psychologist who diagnosed him actually said he had two learning disabilities stemming from the ADHD: a math LD (dyscalculia) centering on problematic recall of math facts, and a writing LD (dysgraphia) centering on poor coordination.

We medicated him, and his math skills and writing improved significantly, as did his social skills.
The stimulant boosts his working memory and processing speed.

going a little off topic from what OP was asking. PP^^^ your DS sounds very much like mine...same DX etc. We are having trouble figuring out his meds. may I ask which meds your DS is on?

[Anonymous]

Kumon was the answer for our add child and for my sisters kids as well.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I just tested my husband and realized he doesn't know his time tables. He is a computer programmer and uses math all day long but did terribly in math in school.

[Anonymous]

My children are both very smart -- attending good colleges right now. They both took a long time to learn the multiplication tables. Just something about it...
I used patience and divided it into sections. The easy ones -- 1-5. the 10s. the 5s. That left 6, 7, 8, 9. I reminded them many times that 3x8 is the same as 8x3 (one of the awful 8s), and that 6x7 is the same as 7x6 (uses up 2, one from the 6s and one from the 7s) 7X5 uses up a 5, which you already learned (because you are so smart-- a little praise== they are just kids) and so on. I think I used flash cards for the harder ones.