> You can't quickly compute 47*36 without being able to reel off "six times seven is forty-two, seven times three is twenty-one, four times six is twenty-four,

> You can't quickly compute 47*36 without being able to reel off "six times seven is forty-two, seven times three is twenty-one, four times six is twenty-four, four times three is twelve", can you? My mental process for solving your example equation was to reduce it to 50x36-3x36 which is IMHO a much simpler process. I don't know where I learned that process (probably from my dad), but simplifying the values to easily calculated approximate values and then adjusting that value for more precision seems to make much more sense than what was taught to me in school. It also caused a lot of frustration between myself and my teachers who demanded that all of the micro steps be written out instead of making what seemed to me as logical jumps. Edit: formatting