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I tend to use a left-to-right multiplication method, mentally. So 26 x 31 becomes 20 x 31 = 620 6 x 31 = 186 620 + 186 = 806 Anyone else do that?

• gills 19y ago
  If I don't have paper available (if I'm driving a car, for example) I will subdivide a problem like that. I'm a visual person and it's easier for me than visualizing long division. There are many schools here in the Seattle area that switched to this "reform math" a few years back, and there is a lot of talk about switching back to classical instruction because this stuff just isn't cutting it. I don't find the alternative methods work as well in alternative number bases, especially if the student is overfit to some base-10 subdivision strategy. Maybe we should teach kids logic first, then a ripple-carry adder, and go from there :)
  • yters 19y ago
    No, they should learn about transistors first. Or maybe particle physics. Only then can they really understand how addition works.
  • ajkirwin 19y ago
    It's how I learned to do it back when I was being taught my multiplication tables. Does that still happen anymore?