Math Is Fun Forum

legoquiz

Member

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 1

multiplication with fingers?

I have read a maths book sometime back about helping children learn multiplication using fingers as an aid, but, I am unable to recall the methods now.  Does anyone have any ideas to that?

zolou

Member

Registered: 2008-10-02

Posts: 1

Re: multiplication with fingers?

My daughter is seeing a tutor who has given her a method to do this - you learn the sequence, eg 4, 8, 12, 16 ... and as you say each number you put a finger down.  You need to always use your fingers in the same order, so in the end you begin to associate the first finger with number 1 and so on.  So eventually when you're asked 8x4, you know which is your eighth finger and you remember what number you normally say when you get there. 

It seems to work!  For 11 and 12 you put a hand on each hip, one at a time - that works really well.

The other resource her teacher has given her for learning tables is called "number trace" - you have several lines of numbers containing the sequence numbers in order but interspersed with other numbers (about 4 or 5 times as many).  The learner uses a pen to underline all the numbers and circle the correct ones.  At the top of the page the sequence is written up for them as an aide -memoire. 

This is useful activity for learning times tables!

What's working is to practice the number trace and the finger method, then eventually moving on to asking random times table questions.  The stage after that is to ask for a division sum with the same numbers.

G_Einstein

Member

Registered: 2008-08-30

Posts: 124

Re: multiplication with fingers?

You can multiply numbers with 9 using your fingers.
Example.
9X3=27
Now look your 10 fingers,and when you multiply 9 by a number,the number wich is used to multiply 9 is your finger (starting from the left to the right) that you should "hide",so 9X3=27,and if you "hide" your third finger you will se that in the beginning you have 2 finers,and after the "hiden" finer you'll have seven fingers,so it makes 27!!!!!!!

Another example:
9X7=63
"Hide" your 7-th finger(the seventh beginning from the left to the right) and you'll have,6 fingers in the beginning and 3 fingers at the end!!!!!!!!!!

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