When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird I have a learning disability that was never adequately addressed. I can do arithmetic only with a calculator. I have immense difficulty recalling equation strings I'm supposed to know, and I canNot conceptualize numbers in my head of more than about 5. I have aphantasia and cannot 'see' in my mind, and I actually organize most by a system of spacial relations I find difficult to explain. Oddly, I still passed Calc3 in Uni, due largely to its spacial nature and a graphing TI hehe.
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird
When I was a kid learning the multiplication table, it was not easy for me. Probably because I wasn't paying attention. Some facts came easy, though. I don't know why, but 7×8 was one of my favorites. (Yes, I liked some more than others.) Eventually, it all just clicked and it all became easy for me. That must've been the day I finally paid attention. -
@aesthr @futurebird the 9s are easy though! Because it’s whatever the non-9 number is (6) minus 1, so 5, then make it add up to 9 (5+4=9). I have no idea why this is easier for my brain than any other addition/subtraction

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@futurebird I think “7 times 8 is 56” because for some reason that’s how I memorized the multiplication tables. Almost got me in trouble with the other third graders in a “multiplication bee” where I was destroying them but whispering the first part under my breath.
@3janeTA @futurebird I think to myself, "You get five-six from seven (times) eight." It works for me but my kids didn't seem to like that method when I tried to help them with multiplication.
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird We were relentlessly drilled on this in 2nd grade (I wear the "privately schooled" badge of shame). I still have some of the worksheets...

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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird mathematically challenged, I think: 4*7*2
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@futurebird @troberts
I think you'll need to start over with a new poll. Your data is skewed because some people responded "other" before you edited the question.@sloanlance @futurebird @troberts
"All polls are flawed, but some are useful." -- internet misquote by me
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird my classmates and I were forced to learn the multiplication tables in grade school. The answer 56 is straight memorization, no math involved.
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird For some reason I developed a HATRED for rote memorization of times tables in school. As long as I understood the concepts of how to multiply, why did I have to memorize so many answers, and calculators already existed and were clearly going to become cheaper and more common, and if I didn't have one I could figure it out in a minute anyways.
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird I had a lot of trouble remembering this for school when I was 8. Now it's stuck in my head forever. With some other multiplications I do some addition or subtraction
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird i thought 7x7 =49 + 7.
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It's worth pointing out that I wasn't 'taught' this method by anyone... I simply discovered it naturally and started using it.
@Anomnomnomaly @futurebird And THAT, just THAT is key to human collective understanding. A GOOD school will applaud that intellectual journey. Unfortunately most edu systems uses math/hard science to teach obediance. I had my way of doing division, the REAL teacher gave me creds (5 of 5).
Then next term another "teatcher" went mainstream an gave me grade 1 for being who i was; that is using my own method. Because i could not LEARN to use the laddder (or some such bs). Fascism, actually. -
When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird
7*8 in particular, I have to work out. I'd probably go 70 (7*10) less 14 (7*2, to get to tines
to get to 56. For many other pairs I have tricks already memorized, shortcuts to look up the right answer.
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
@futurebird 7*2*2*2 is what I capsulat calculate
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@johnnythan @futurebird Similarly, when I have to tell left from right, I think of my the last turn when driving to our local library when I was an infant, because I'd overheard an adult call it a left turn. I _see_ that road every time. I'm 49.
@KennyPark @johnnythan @futurebird
To be absolutely certain about left vs. right, I start to pick up an imaginary pair of scissors. I know I use my right hand to do that.
I found that 'trick' in like 1st grade. I have since worked in jobs that use analytic geometry and multi-variable calculus. I have debugged issues arising from using a left-handed coordinate system instead of the standard right-handed one. I still have to reach for the scissors.
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@futurebird
7*8 in particular, I have to work out. I'd probably go 70 (7*10) less 14 (7*2, to get to tines
to get to 56. For many other pairs I have tricks already memorized, shortcuts to look up the right answer.
I used to just completely not know it and have to do complicated addition or subtraction. But since my kid's 3rd grade teacher told their class "I am 56 and so you just remember that 7x8 is my age you'll get there... also 5 and 6 come before 7 and 8... so you can remember that," and my kid told me and now I've got it memorized.
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@futurebird For some reason I developed a HATRED for rote memorization of times tables in school. As long as I understood the concepts of how to multiply, why did I have to memorize so many answers, and calculators already existed and were clearly going to become cheaper and more common, and if I didn't have one I could figure it out in a minute anyways.
There is a flip side to this you may not be aware of.
I have Dyscalculia. The numbers version of Dyslexia. I find it incredibly difficult to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
Without the rote learning of the times tables back whilst on the Ark, it would take me a very long time to work out that 7 x 8 is 56.
As for calculators, you'd be surprised by the absolute hassle it is to get out a calculator when you sometimes have to do it multiple times a day. Numbers and the need to utilize them is literally everywhere. Just like words are for the Dyslexic.

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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
I have dyscalculia; rote learning the tables is the only reason I can come up with the answer instantly.
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It's worth pointing out that I wasn't 'taught' this method by anyone... I simply discovered it naturally and started using it.
@Anomnomnomaly @futurebird There are multiple levels of meta when you say "i learned" or "i was taught" or "i figured out [by my own device]. The processes behind is what creates the magick of a human intellect. There is NO 10-point list for that. None of us got something from g#d that made us better/cooler/smarter than the next guy. It's just luck (Quoring: Joni Mitchell & Chalie Mingus, Dry Cleaner from Des Moines).
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When you need to multiply 7*8 do you simply have it memorized, or do you need to add, subtract or otherwise connect it to another math fact that you know better?
That is do you simply think "56" or are there more thoughts that lead to 56?
Mostly I have that one memorized. Otherwise, I decompose it into 5*8 + 2*8, which is 40 + 16.