In my native language, we recite the multiplication table like this: "one one equals one, one two equals two, ... five six thirty, five seven thirty-five, ...". I'm just curious how to recite the multiplication table in English.
Loob, your memory is still good... That's how I remember it as well...My memory is rather hazy: it was, unfortunately, a very long time ago!![]()
My memory is holding up well. Definitely this way of reciting them.Hi EnglishBug
I think I was primarily taught it as:
Once two is two
Two twos are four
Three twos are six
Four twos are eight
etc
My memory is rather hazy: it was, unfortunately, a very long time ago!
We all remember things well from when we were young and our brain was about empty. But as it fills up you need to push out some things to make room for the new stuff. The old stuff is there for good; so the new stuff pushes other new stuff out. So you end up forgetting things you read just an hour earlier.My memory is holding up well. Definitely this way of reciting them.
I learnt my "times" tables too (I somehow missed the 9 times table and have difficulty to this day - perhaps I should attend remedial numeracy classes!).I can't say I have any clear recollections of 60+ years ago. These days I count myself lucky to know who's in bed with me when I wake up. Luckily it's always the same fellow. As an adult I say "three fours are twelve". I would think that as small kids we said "Three times two makes six" because we called them " the 'times' tables", " We're doing the six times table now!" We called multiplication 'times'- "we're learning how to do 'times' sums". We chanted the tables every morning and got tested, both written and oral. These days they talk about numeracy, not 'sums', and they seem to use the proper terms.
Hermione
It was useful for commerce too (and probably still is useful). Even today many items are sold by the dozen or the gross (in the USA). So it was useful to know that six dozen (or a half-gross) was equal to seventy-two; or that a quarter gross (three dozen) equals thirty-six, etc.I learnt my "times" tables too (I somehow missed the 9 times table and have difficulty to this day - perhaps I should attend remedial numeracy classes!).
I wonder if they still teach the "twelve times" table since the currency went decimal a little while ago. The 12 times table always seemed useful in the days of pounds, shillings and pence![]()
Same here, except for the first line, where the numbers were inverted. So it went:I think I was primarily taught it as:
Once two is two
Two twos are four
Three twos are six
That's how we said it (Midwest, early '60s) but we only learned up to the tens.I (U.S., Midwest) learned the table up to 12x12, and it went like this:
One times one is one.
...
Six times five is thirty.
Six times six is thirty-six.
Six times seven is forty-two.
...
Twelve times twelve is a hundred and forty-four.
7 x 8 was the one I always had trouble with. As often as not I'd end up doing 6 x 8 + 8 or 7 x 7 + 7.I somehow missed the 9 times table and have difficulty to this day - perhaps I should attend remedial numeracy classes!
It's common in Indian English.Is the use of "four threes" natural"?
Just realised, after seeing another thread on the same topic, that my earlier post wasn't fully accurate. All the lines were "inverted", with the number that the table was for coming first.Same here, except for the first line, where the numbers were inverted. So it went:
Three ones are three
Two threes are six
Three threes are nine
"Four times three is 12"
OR
"Four threes are 12."(or is)
It depends on how juvenile you are. Once past primary school, the "times" version is likely to be more common, and should use "is", not "are", because the implied subject is "the result of <performing this operation> is ...".So what's more common:
Strange, isn't it, the fashionable dogma in education? I've always found instant recall of multiplication a valuable skill. Very useful when working as a barman - these days bar staff seem incapable of mentally calculating the price of a few drinks. Having learnt the tables by rote as a young child didn't stunt my abilityy to go on to A-level maths at secondary school.We never chanted multiplication tables out loud. Even in the 1950s "rote memorization" was considered outdated pedagogy.
For me, it was definitelyI think I was primarily taught it as:
Once two is two
Two twos are four
Three twos are six
Four twos are eight
I was taught, "four times three is twelve" or "four times three equals twelve".In AmE, is "four threes are twelve" or something of this sort used? Or is it just used in Indian and British English?
To me "four threes" is four groups of three. You can add (3+3+3+3=12) or multiply (4x3=12) to get 12, but they aren't 12 until you add or multiply them. So the phrase "four threes are twelve" is not one I've heard.In AmE, is "four threes are twelve" or something of this sort used? Or is it just used in Indian and British English?
Strange, isn't it, the fashionable dogma in education? I've always found instant recall of multiplication a valuable skill.
Yes, the "new math" of the 1980s and 1990s was terrible. I completely agree that memorizing multiplication tables is valuable. To this day I say to myself "nine times six is 54".My daughter is a primary teacher, and tells me that multiplication tables are back in fashion. Her mental arithmetic is atrocious - the product of what was fashionable in the 1980s and 1990s.
This sounds bizarre. Where I live, "into" is only used for division:...
one into three is equal to three
two into three is equal to six
That wouldn’t make sense in New York either. Three into six is the same as six divided by three.This sounds bizarre. Where I live, "into" is only used for division:
Two into three is one and a half.
That's Indianism. Indians use "into" to express multiplication/to mean multiplied by! Be careful while dealing with Indians. 99.9% Indian teachers don't know "into" is used to express division in standard English, not multiplication.That wouldn’t make sense in New York either. Three into six is the same as six divided by three.
Always.[...] Be careful while dealing with Indians. [...]