Times tables (age 8+)
Recognise and use repeated reasoning to generalise: extend patterns in times tables and equivalent fractions, derive unknown facts from known facts efficiently, describe general rules
What a learner can do afterwards
- Notice that all fractions equivalent to 1/2 have a numerator that is half the denominator
- Use the pattern 3×4=12, 3×40=120, 3×400=1200 and explain the generalisation
- Derive 8×7 from 8×5=40 plus 8×2=16 and describe the strategy as a general approach
The lesson
You already know lots of times tables facts. But there is something even better hiding inside them: a pattern. Once you spot a pattern, you can turn it into a rule, and use that rule on facts you have never learned by heart.
Mo needs 8×7 but only remembers 8×5 and 8×2. He splits it: 8×5=40 and 8×2=16. Then he adds them: 40+16=56. So 8×7=56, and Mo used the same splitting trick to solve a fact he had not memorized.
Whenever you spot a pattern, in times tables or in fractions, try saying it as a rule in your own words. A rule you can say out loud is a rule you can use on brand new facts.
Spot the pattern, say the rule in your own words, then use it to work out any new fact.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.