Talk:Multiplication table

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Betty. "Grandma, I know my twelve times."Grandma. "Do you, dear? Well, what are twelve times thirteen?"Betty. "Don’t be silly, Grandma. There isn’t such a thing." Cartoon from Punch October 27, 1920
Betty. "Grandma, I know my twelve times."
Grandma. "Do you, dear? Well, what are twelve times thirteen?"
Betty. "Don’t be silly, Grandma. There isn’t such a thing."
Cartoon from Punch October 27, 1920

Interesting to see the illustrated table goes up to 12x12. This is what I learnt in the early 1970s in England, but I suspect most children learn up to 10x10 these days. Can anyone confirm this? --Auximines 14:49, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Nope. Children still learn up to 12*12, in the UK. At least, they did in the early 90s, when I learnt to multiply. Old habits die hard.
I know someone who works as a maths teacher. yes children still learn up to 12 but in the national curriculum it does not list the 11 and 12 times table as a necessity.--Faizaguo (talk) 08:35, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Ah, in the old days, people could multiply by 13 and more. Before my time, though. 12x12 would have been standard in the UK up to decimalisation.

Charles Matthews 15:50, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)


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[edit] Why do we stop at 12?

My 6 year old daughter now has the challenge of learning her times tables.

I remember when I too had this task.

But - in the age of digits and decimilisation, why do our UK (and perhaps American?) times tables stop at 12?

Is this some hangover from early currency, perhaps 12 pennies in a shilling?

I suppose so. The Ministry of Education guessed that it is good to learn more than less.--Faizaguo (talk) 08:36, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Why do we stop at 9?

We should rejoice if our children thoroughly mastered nothing more than the single digit multiplication table. Mastery of the 12 by 12 or even the 16 by 16, which is useful if you work with binary or hexadecimal number systems, are not worth the marginal effort. Products of multiple digit factors are calculated by knowing the single digit facts and using the algorithm to carry the higher order digit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdspeier (talk • contribs)

Following your line of reasoning, should we rejoice if our children thoroughly mastered nothing more than the addition tables and scrapped the multiplication tables altogether? After all, products of single-digit factors can be calculated by repeated adding. Should we rejoice if they never learn that 1/3 equals 0.33333...? After all, it can be calculated using the division algorithm. Should we rejoice if they never learn that the square root of 2 corresponds to the proportion between the diagonal and the side of a square? After all, it can be calculated using the Pythagorean theorem. One shouldn't rejoice in restricting elementary math skills. On the other hand, if you work with hexadecimal, you should learn the hexadecimal multiplication tables, which are thoroughly different from the decimal ones. But knowing that, in decimal, 16 by 16 equals 256 and 12 by 12 equals 144, without needing to waste time doing the calculation each time, is by no means useless. —213.37.6.106 15:01, 13 May 2007 (UTC)