Patterns in the Multiplication Table

Abstract

In elementary school, great importance is placed on memorization of number facts. In teaching fifth through eighth graders, 1 have assumed that most of my students had made a concerted effort to memorize facts in earlier grades. I have observed. however, that children who have had a similar amount of practice have a great range of recall. A few students complete tests of 100 multiplication or division facts perfectly in less than three minutes, whereas others are made miserable by the whole process. They skip many problems, look around the room to compare their progress with that of other students, and finally give up with few correct answers. Although those who have memorized the facts do better than others at whole-number arithmetic, they do not always do well in work with fractions.