Multiplication by 2, step by step
The two times table is the one most children already half know, because doubling is something they have been doing since kindergarten.
The question
8 × 2
8×2
8 × 2=2 × 8
2 × 5=10
2 × 3=6
10+6=16
8×2=16
- 8 × 2 means 8 groups with 2 in each one — 8 rows of 2. The answer counts everything in all of them, not one row.
- Added up, that is 2 written 8 times — nobody wants to do that. Turn it round: 2 × 8 is the same amount, and it is only 2 lots of 8 to add instead.
- If 2 × 8 will not come, split the 8 at five: 2 × 5 = 10, and 2 × 3 = 6. Together that is 10 + 6 = 16.
- So 8 × 2 = 16.
How it works.
- 01
8 × 2 means 8 groups with 2 in each one — 8 rows of 2. The answer counts everything in all of them, not one row.
- 02
Added up, that is 2 written 8 times — nobody wants to do that. Turn it round: 2 × 8 is the same amount, and it is only 2 lots of 8 to add instead.
- 03
If 2 × 8 will not come, split the 8 at five: 2 × 5 = 10, and 2 × 3 = 6. Together that is 10 + 6 = 16.
- 04
So 8 × 2 = 16.