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*Click on the Play button to hear Julie speak.*
What Does it Mean to Multiply Numbers Together?
So, now you know how to add and subtract like a pro! That means you're ready to move up to the next level of Math- Multiplication!! You've already learned all your times tables off the chart in your classroom, you say? That's great! What happens when you can't remember them all, though? I know that happens to me sometimes. In this lesson, we'll learn how to think about multiplying in ways that will help us figure it out when we can't remember some of our multiplication facts. In order to start, we must know what multiplication means. Multiplication is, quite simply, adding together equal groups of objects over and over again to get the total number of objects. An example of this is shown in the picture below:
The stars are put into 3 equal groups of 4. This means that each group has 4 stars in it. In order to find out how many stars there are all together, we must add each of these groups to each other. 4+4+4=12 stars in all. The multiplication fact for this picture is 3X4=12, because there are 3 groups with 4 stars in each group. The video below will show how using equal groups to figure out the total amount is easier and less confusing than counting the objects one by one. Be sure to pay attention to how the CyberSquad uses equal groups to figure out the total amount of icicles.
The CyberSquad added equal groups together to figure out the total amount of icicles in order to free themselves. In order to do this, they had to organize the groups of icicles in a way that was easy for them to count. The rows and columns they put the icicle groups into formed a rectangle that is called an array. Arrays are a great tool to use to help us see how multiplication works.