Basic Multiplication

Basic multiplication involves taking an amount contained within one number and repeating that number a set number of times indicated by a second number. Each number in a multiplication problem is called a factor.

For example:

4 x 5

If we count out 4 objects such as squares we have the following:



Then we can layout these squares 5 times as indicated by the second factor in our problem.











We can now count all the squares to arrive at our final answer of 20.

As an addition sentence 4 x 5 = 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 20.

Multiplication Table

Multiplication is typically not done by adding up a repeated digit. It is simplest to memorize multiplication facts with factors from 0 to 9. Below is a table which shows the results of multiplying one digit by one digit for all possible combination 0 through 9:

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
2	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18
3	0	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27
4	0	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36
5	0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45
6	0	6	12	18	24	30	36	42	48	54
7	0	7	14	21	28	35	42	49	56	63
8	0	8	16	24	32	40	48	56	64	72
9	0	9	18	27	36	45	54	63	72	81

Notation

Multiplication can be written a number of different ways. Each of the following indicates the same problem and is read as 4 multiplied 6 equals 24 or 4 times 6 equals 24.

4 x 6 = 24     4 * 6 = 24    4(6) = 24    (4)6 = 24    4 • 6 = 24