How easy/hard was it to for y'all to learn your multiplication tables? What grade did start learning and when did you know it all? (up to 12x12 I mean)
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So for context, I went to first grade in mainland China before immigrating to the United States, in China, they teach kids this weird trick that's basically like reciting a "poem" thing, which I didn't remember what it was called until I recently googled it. Its apparantly called the "九九乘法口诀表" or 9x9 Song / "The Nine-nine song" (Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_multiplication_table#The_Nine-nine_song_text_in_Chinese).
So like... in 2nd grade, for which I was in the US, multiplication was very easy for me, well... at least up to 10x10. Like idk how to explain it to someone who's doesn't speak a variant of Chinese, and even the rhythm only works for me in Mandarin somehow, when I try to use Cantonese, which is the language I speak at home in the US, I cannot replicate the rhythm to make thay thing work, this "Poem"/"Song" is only available to me in Mandarin, like when I think about multiplying together any 2 single digit number, I instictively use the "九九乘法口诀表".
Like its goes from 1x1 then next lines are 1x2, 2x2, then next are 1x3, 2x3, 3x3, then its 1x4, 2x4, 3x4, 4x4, etc... you get the idea, mutiples of 1, then 2, then 3. So if I need to multiply something by 7, I can start from the line where multiples of 7 are. Sometimes I can remember the exact phrase of it like for example 3x7, without starting from 1x7, then 2x7, then 3x7.
Like I never thought too hard about it, it kinda just became the "normal" way I do multiplication. But someone asked a question on Lemmy about reading analog clocks and I probably didn't answer their question correctly but that was when I kinda was like: oh wow I forgot that my way of multiplication is probably different from everyone else in the west.
Like if you told me to teach a English-Only speaker on how to do multiplication tables, I... um... I don't know how I would teach that, the "九九乘法口诀表" doesn't have the rhythm in English so I doubt converting the it to English would work.
Like even though I speak English as my primary language now, and I barely have any fluency in Mandarin or even Cantonese which I speak at home (and never learned any vocabulary beyond the basics), the "九九乘法口诀表" multiplication thing is always done in mandarin somehow, like its always been stuck in my brain even after all these years in the US.
TLDR answer to my own question. I do it using "九九乘法口诀表" which takes me 1-2 seconds to recall a specific line, so basically, anything up to 10x10 takes about 2 seconds for my brsin to process, 11x11x to 12x12 takes about 5-10 seconds, anything bigger and I just giveup using my brain and pull out a calculator. I memorized 10x10 since first grade, then 12x12 probably by like 2nd grade or maybe first half of 3rd grade.
How do y'all do it, is it easy or hard?
Edit: Okay so the best way for me to explain "九九乘法口诀表" is that: Think of PEMDAS (order of operations), but its for the entire multiplication up to 9x9.
I was 8 years old when I learned the multiplication table and I honed it through repetition over the next couple years. Everyone in our class had a multiplication table taped to the upper left corner of our desks. I think it was optional. Not required. It was more of a fashion statement at the time, showing who had a "Trapper Keeper" because we'd cut that multiplication table out of the corner of one of the folders that the trapper keepers came with. So it was in style at the time in the mid 1980s. In idle moments I'd study it. It was fascinating as I began to notice the patterns and the magic of the math and it was fun to learn & memorize. Grateful to learn that in my youth because my brain would not be so pliable & spongelike these days.
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I was born in 97, also expected to just "memorize" the tables. I never did, and despite my teacher in 3rd grade insisting we would never have a calculator on us at all times, I do in fact have a calculator (phone) in my pockets at all time to do menial math for me.
I do in fact have a calculator (phone) in my pockets at all time to do menial math for me
Except it gives wrong answers for order of operations expressions, because it was written by a programmer who didn't make sure he was doing the Maths correctly.
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I could never understand how people be stupid enough to need to memorize the multiplication as a table or some other shiet.
I always calculated the result - i remembered some of the combinations naturally from repetition.
The whole idea of multiplication table is stupid af.
7 x 8? It's 7 x 10 - 2 x7. 12 x 11? It's 12 x 10 + 12 you dumb fucks.
/rant mode off
7 x 8? It’s 7 x 10 - 2 x7. 12 x 11? It’s 12 x 10 + 12
Welcome to getting less questions done in a Maths test, and thus less marks, cos it's taking you longer than the rest of the class to do the number-crunching parts
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Same here. Nobody ever noticed, so why even bother with memorizing if I can calculate it fast enough.
so why even bother with memorizing if I can calculate it fast enough
The standard is to be able to answer a times table question in 2 seconds, so if it's taking longer than 2 seconds to calculate it then it's not fast enough.
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But we have calculators... everywhere
But we have calculators… everywhere
A vast majority of which give wrong answers to order of operations expressions because of programmers who didn't bother checking they had their Maths right when writing a calculator.
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As a teacher, no, memorization is an important step before understanding. I do agree thought that in the times before memorization was a bigger emphasis, but that's because it was understood that the only information you'd have easy access to would be what youve memorized since we didnt have the internet. Now we teach kids in Literature class how to vet their sources because they are all exposed to the misinformation vortex.
As a teacher, no, memorization is an important step before understanding
Yep, same. Without fail the kids I run into who are bad at Maths and "hate Maths" have been poor at mental arithmetic. i.e. not keeping up with what is being taught because they're still struggling with the number-crunching. Once they get up to speed with mental arithmetic their marks improve and they don't hate Maths anymore.
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Key facts, sure. If you don’t know geography, no amount of reflection can provide you with the location of Hong Kong.
However, i can figure out anything on the 12x12 timestable in a few seconds, no memorization needed. I don’t even need the landmark numbers that i mentioned because multiplication is just repeated addition. The only things i had to memorize were the numerals and the operators.
i can figure out anything on the 12x12 timestable in a few seconds
Within 2 seconds is the standard expected. Longer than that is lagging behind your peers
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so why even bother with memorizing if I can calculate it fast enough
The standard is to be able to answer a times table question in 2 seconds, so if it's taking longer than 2 seconds to calculate it then it's not fast enough.
I'm doing okay then. Thanks for providing a baseline.
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i can figure out anything on the 12x12 timestable in a few seconds
Within 2 seconds is the standard expected. Longer than that is lagging behind your peers
Meh. That is why the narrow application of standards is another obstacle to learning. I was top of my math classes all through high school and university, despite my ‘slow’ multiplication that required no memorization.
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Meh. That is why the narrow application of standards is another obstacle to learning. I was top of my math classes all through high school and university, despite my ‘slow’ multiplication that required no memorization.
That is why the narrow application of standards is another obstacle to learning
No it isn't
I was top of my math classes...
Survivorship bias
