Categories
3.OA.1 Multiplication

Khan Academy: Meaning of Multiplication

What’s going on here?  How would you help?

2 replies on “Khan Academy: Meaning of Multiplication”

Ah, the person here has thought that 10 x 1, means ten lots of one. Which. Is a correct assumption. The problem that they face here is that instead of thinking I have ten lots of one, which means I have ten altogether. They have assumed that because the topic is multiplication then the ten ones have to be multiplied together, which is a different sum altogether.

The point to reinforce with the pupil is that multiplication is a short cut for repeated addition. Perhaps get some blocks out and show them using a practical area example.

I agree with Ian, but I think some of the confusion stems from the fact that 1 is the multiplicative identity. I would see if this is the main hang-up (have the student try some problems without 1 as a factor) and then if they got these correct, use some drawings to explore why multiplying by 1 gives a product equivalent to the other factor in the problem.

Comments are closed.