How to Improve Multiplication Skills

Last Updated: January 28, 2022

Multiplication is an important skill you will have to use in everyday life. There are many ways to improve multiplication skills. Through memorizing basic multiplication tables to knowing trick to multiply bigger values, with a little practice you can improve your skills.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Practicing Good Study Skills

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Understand the concepts. Before you can begin improving your skill set in any area, you need to understand the underlying concept. If you simply memorize multiplication tables without understanding the math behind them, you'll have more trouble remembering your multiplication tables longterm.
- Multiplication is essentially addition repeated. For example, take 8 multiplied by 3. This equation is basically 8 plus 8 plus 8, which equals 24. Therefore, 8 times 3 is 24.^{[1]
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- In addition to multiplying by whole numbers, you can multiply numbers by fractions or decimals. If you take 8 times 3.5, you're taking 8 plus 8 plus 8 plus half of 8, which is 4. This comes out to 28. Therefore, 8 times 3.5 is 28.^{[2]
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Practice your time table daily. Studies show that daily practice is the best means for recall. If you want to improve your multiplication skills, practice your time table on a daily basis.
- Decide how high you want to be able to multiply in your head. Some people want to be able to multiply numbers only up to 10. Some people go as high as 12 to 15 and some people go even higher. Make a decision based on your own personal goals as well as your current skill level in mathematics. Then, write up a time table for yourself on a piece of scrap paper. You can also find time tables online.
- Each day, practice your time table. It's best to memorize tables in chunks. For example, start with the twos. Write down all the 2's from 1 to 10 every day. 2 X 1 is 2, 2 X 2 is 4, 2 X 3 is 6 and so on. The best means to memorization is repetition. The act of simply writing down your times tables each day can greatly improve your multiplication skills. Try writing down one set 10 times each day. Once you have mastered that set, move on to the next set.
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3
Study with friends. Studying with friends is a great way to improve any skill set including multiplication. Effective study partners can help you stay on task and give you guidance if you're struggling with a particular problem.
- Choose friends who are hard workers. If you study with friends that tend to have difficulty concentrating, you're likely to distract one another. Choose study partners whose work ethic you admire.^{[3]
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- Strive to work with people who are skilled at mathematics. This way, if you're stuck or confused on a problem you can ask for their assistance.^{[4]
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Read, recite, and review. Reading, reciting, and then reviewing the material is a solid way to improve any skill set. When trying to improve multiplication skills, practice the read, recite, review method.
- Read actively. Go over your multiplication tables and read each answer out loud. Try to think about the underlying concept behind the tables. For example, when reading 3 X 5 is 15, think of how 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15.^{[5]
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- When reading through your multiplication tables, pause and recite what you've just read. For example, after reading 3 X 5 equals 15 stop, look up, and say to yourself, "Three times five is fifteen."^{[6]
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- Review your material when you are finished. Remember, you're reviewing what you ultimately want to accomplish and not what you have already committed to memory. After you have finished reading and reciting one grouping of your multiplication table, take a moment to briefly re-read the table.^{[7]
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Test yourself. Testing yourself can be an effective way to practice your multiplication skills. You can write up a test yourself of random multiplication equations. You can also find tests online. When you are finished testing yourself, grade your test. See what areas you are strongest in and where you could use improvement.^{[8]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Memorizing Multiplication Tables

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Learn tables in chunks. If you try to memorize the entire multiplication table at once, you'll end up getting frustrated. Instead, learn the multiplication table in chunks. Learn your 2's, then your 3's, then your 4's, and so on. It can be helpful to make a schedule for yourself. For example, you can strive to have the multiplication tables from 1 to 5 memorized in six weeks.^{[9]
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Use online games. There are many games you can find online to help you memorize your multiplication tables. Especially for younger children, free downloadable multiplication games can greatly aid in memorizing multiplication tables. Games usually allow you to set the difficulty level and then work at your own pace.^{[10]
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Make flashcards. Flash cards are a classic study technique that can help with multiplication. You simply take index cards and one one side write the equation (e.g., 3 X 4) and the other side write the answer (e.g., 12). You can use these flashcards to test your knowledge. If you don't want to use physical flashcards, there are many free downloadable programs that allow you to make digital flashcards to use.^{[11]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Tricks to Remember

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Learn the trick for multiplying powers of five. No matter how hard you work to memorize multiplication tables, sometimes memory fails. Also, you can only memorize so high in the multiplication tables. You will probably not be able to commit your multiplication tables through 26 to memory. There are a few tricks you can use to help you recall basic multiplication in a bind. One such trick involves multiplying powers of five.
- Remember, 5 is the equivalent of 10/2. This means you can figure out a multiple of five in your head by multiplying that number by 10 and then dividing by 2. Remember, multiplying numbers by 10 is easy because you simply add a zero to the end of the number multiplied to find the solution.^{[12]
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- For example, take 5 times 26. To figure out the value in your head, remember that 26 times 10 is 260. Divide 260 by 2 to get 130. Therefore, 5 X 26 equals 130.^{[13]
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Know how to find multiples of nine easily. There is also a trick regarding multiples of 9. The trick here is to remember than 9 is the equivalent of 10 minus 1.
- Take the equation 9 X 24. As 9 is equal to 10 minus 1, we can rewrite the equation as 24 X (10-1). We can further rewrite the equation as 24 X 10 - 24, using the distributive property of mathematics.^{[14]
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- It's easy to multiply by powers of 10. We know that 24 X 10 is 240. Then, subtract 24 to get 216. Therefore, 9 X 24 equals 216.^{[15]
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Double and halve numbers to multiply quickly. If you need to multiply big numbers quickly, doubling and halving numbers can help. By doubling one number in an equation and then halving the other, you can find the answer by hand.
- Look at the equation 47 X 24. Double 47 to get 94. Half 24 to get 12. Then, repeat the process to get 188 X 6. Then again to get the problem 3 X 376. This problem is much easier to figure out by hand. The answer comes to 1,128.^{[16]
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- If you're in a bind with a problem, simply double and halve numbers until you get an easy equation to solve by hand.