Max Maths, Year 6, Learn together, Mental multiplication (3)

In the Year 6 Max Maths curriculum, students are encouraged to develop their mental arithmetic skills, focusing on mental multiplication strategies. One example provided is the multiplication of 36 by 5. To simplify the process, students are taught to break down the number 36 into tens and ones. They first multiply the tens part (30) by 5, resulting in 150. Then, they multiply the ones part (6) by 5, which equals 30. By adding these two products together, 150 plus 30, they quickly arrive at the answer, 180. Therefore, 36 multiplied by 5 equals 180, showcasing a straightforward method to tackle multiplication mentally.

Another exercise in mental multiplication involves multiplying numbers by 20. The textbook demonstrates this by using the number 15 as an example. It breaks down the multiplication process into two steps for ease of calculation. First, it recognises that 20 can be expressed as 2 times 10. The number 15 is then multiplied by 2, giving 30. This result is subsequently multiplied by 10, leading to the final answer of 300. Therefore, 15 times 20 equals 300. The same approach is applied to the number 12, with the first step multiplying 12 by 2 to get 24, and then multiplying that by 10 to reach the answer of 240. This two-step method simplifies the process of multiplying by 20 and reinforces the students' understanding of the relationship between multiplication and place value.