Developing fluency with multiplication facts is important for supporting flexible number sense, problem solving and understanding of more complex concepts. But fluency, or having a way to get the answer that is "fast and accurate," is not the same thing as memorization. Because it is difficult to remember and retrieve all the multiplication facts, developing
strategies that are based on understanding of the operation and number relationships is critical.
Understanding the meaning of the operation and properties of multiplication makes learning the facts much easier. For example, understanding the
commutative property reduces the number of single digit facts to be learned from 100 to 55. Understanding the
identity property of multiplication helps to illustrate multiplication by one (1 x a = a or a x 1 = a). The remaining 45 facts can be derived from known facts, visualizing open area models, and understanding of the
distributive and associative properties of multiplication. Multiplication facts involving 2, 5, and 10 are easier for students to remember because they involve patterns. Array models can help students develop skip counting and additive strategies.
For the harder facts, the
open area model can be used to help students build from facts that they know and can recall easily. Below are two examples of how the open area model can be used to derive the fact 6 x8 from easier facts.
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