A Brand New Way To Multiply.

Here is a simple way to show children the principle of multiplication. In fact, this is easier than normal multiplication. it involves counting, paper, and a writing utensil.

Step 1: Drawing the Lines.

The first step is to draw the lines. For one factor, draw horizontal lines, for the other, draw vertical lines.

Comments

[ichnicht]

It's prity much the same like this http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Multiply-Like-Chinese-the-easy-way-Fast-/ I think

[andrea0701]

Nice in theory but the numbers on the 2nd row don't match up: 2 x 1 doesn't equal 4 and 2x2 doesn't equal 5!

[bigbrosrule]

You don't understand. In his example if you were to multiply 2x2 you'ld have to remove the 3rd vertical line which would remove points 3 and 6. You'd then have 4 points, not 5.

[andrea0701]

Thanks! I forgot to reply again -- when I came back and looked at it, it made sense. I don't know where my head was before lol

[bigbrosrule]

It's all right, we all have those days.

[freakyqwerty]

How did you work that out?  Your wrong

[bigbrosrule]

Isn't this practically the way you were taught? If you're multiplying A and B make A rows and B columns. That's basically the same thing.

[threadbare]

For those of us that are visual learners this is fantastic. I can't wait to show the other teachers.

[reedz]

It is an idea. However it seems much more time-consuming than just memorizing.

[12Hippos]

Thank you for replying, but it says in the very beginning of the Instructable that "a simple way to show children the principle of multiplication". It was never meant to be used instead of normal multiplication.

[russelldb]

I liked that. Ok so it is not a new way to perform multiplication but it fits so well with what my 6 yr old is doing at school. He is doing arithmetic with a number line. This is like two number lines, one horizontal and one vertical. I wrote a quick processing sketch that creates these grids. It is only really readable up to 12x12 but what 6yr old needs more than that?

Anyway: my kid liked it. He is doing 2*N a lot a school and this illustrated that it is just 2 rows of N added together.

So thanks for the post... Sketch here https://www.getdropbox.com/browse2#/Public/grid_calc

[russelldb]

I mean Here

[TheWelfareWarrior]

I don't know if its been said... (I'm too lazy to read tonight) But the way I learned was that the first number is circles, and the second number is dots within each circle. for 3x2 you would draw three circles, and put two dots in each one then count up all the dots.

[IvanJM]

I won't argue the accuracy of the system. However, I will need you to elaborate on how this effectively illustrates "the principle of multiplication." As I see it, you are just illustrating how children can use the concept of counting toes to find the answer to a multiplication problem. Multiplication is the sum of a unit copied a specific number of times. Said another way, counting beyond progressing from one number to the next in a straight line. A more accurate visual representation of multiplication might be a rabbit or frog jumping from the number zero to the number three and then the number six. One hop (times one)... Again, I'm not saying you can't find the right answer using this method. I am disputing your claim that this illustrates the concept of multiplying. If your goal was simply to provide a method for getting the right answer, and you feel I am just being picky about your choice of words, I can accept that (but I would request you edit the instructions to be more accurate of your intent). If your intent was to teach others what multiplication is, you did not do it (and I constructively offer suggestions for representing it). A less comical method might be to write out the numbers 0-10. Notch a pencil with the number two on it so that it points to the even numbers. Continue with a couple more pencils to show counting by three and four.

[Kiteman]

When I use this in a class, I circle each row of three numbers, (1,2,3), (4,5,6) etc to show that multiplication is just counting in numbers other than 1 (counting in threes, counting in sevens etc).

Your method does work (I use it), but at the same time I use phrases like "two lots of three", and quickly drop the grid as time-consuming and too intensive.