Yeah I don't think they are the same. You can of course also have 2 cm * 3, which still fits with the repeated addition idea, as long as you frame it as 2 cm +

Yeah I don't think they are the same. You can of course also have 2 cm * 3, which still fits with the repeated addition idea, as long as you frame it as 2 cm + 2 cm + 2 cm. I'm not an educator by any stretch, but that seems like an intuitive way to introduce units without causing confusion about previous number teachings.