Tips for Learning the 12 Times Tables - From a Rock Climber

• Math Tips
• Education
• 3rd

Let's take a look at how to learn the 12-times tables in bite-size chunks.

First of all put yourself into the shoes of a child who is new to the 12 times tables. It's daunting - like looking up a rock face you have to climb. You might already know that 12 x 12 is 144, but wow, this is a huge number and there's a long way to climb to get there.

The good news for your kids is that they've been learning tables for a while now, they're getting the hang of it - and this is probably the last one to climb!

The easy part

Climbers look for easy ways up a rock face - perhaps a safe ledge to rest on or some great hand and footholds. The 12 times tables has two great safe ledges to climb onto and they're pretty easy to use. First, let's take a look at the first part of the twelve times tables, and the first "ledge".  

• 1 x 12 = 12

• 2 x 12 = 24

• 3 x 12 = 36

• 4 x 12 = 48

• 5 x 12 = 60  is a safe ledge to jump onto

First, get familiar with the multiplications themselves:

• Adding 12 each time is a common method:  12+12= 24,  24 + 12 = 36,  36+12 = 48

• Also notice the pattern in the ones columns:  
    12   
    24   
    36   
    48   
    60   
    72   
    84   
    96 
  108   
  120 
  The 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0 pattern repeats through all the 12 times  tables.

• You can use the half and double strategy:   3 x 12   becomes  6 x 6 = 36

• Or use partition - faced with 4 x 12, split it into 4 x 10  add   4 x 2  so 40 + 8 =  48

The walk to the summit

The last three 12 times tables are also relatively easy to remember. Once you're at the super easy 10 x 12 = 120 ledge :

• Add 12 to get 11 x 12 = 132  

• Another 12 takes us to 12 x 12 = 144

• We can also "climb down" from 10 x 12= 120 to  9 x 12 = 108

The scary bit

Between our two safe ledges at 5 x 12=60 and 10 x 12=120 is the scary part:

• 10 x 12 = 120   a safe ledge to jump onto

• 9 x 12 = 108   you can climb down -12 from 120 to get here

• 8 x 12 = 96   memorize this one to make an extra ledge

• 7 x 12 = 84  climb up +24 from 60 to get here

• 6 x 12 = 72  climb up +12 from 60 to get here

• 5 x 12 = 60   (START HERE)

Round up

They say mathematicians make good climbers because they're always looking for the best route through a problem.

When you're faced with a problem in math it also helps to think like a climber - break the problem down into chunks and see if there are any safe ledges to jump onto and hold on while you figure it out. When we do this for the 12 times tables we soon see they're not so difficult after all.

Here's a useful worksheet version of the 12 x tables rock face:

Worksheet version: fill in the safe ledges first!

I have a little confession to make here - I was more of a wannabe rock climber than the real thing. The times I took to the rock face it was with an instructor and a safety harness!

I'm Ged, Co-founder of Komodo, ex-math teacher and dad. If you have any questions please get in touch.

About Komodo - Komodo is a fun and effective way to boost elementary math skills. Designed for 5 to 11 year olds to use in the home, Komodo uses a little and often approach to learning math (15 minutes, three to five times per week) that fits into your busy routine. Komodo helps users develop fluency and confidence in math - without keeping them at the screen for long.

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