Vocabulary - Multiplication and Division
The vocabulary for multiplication and division is an essential part of mathematics education, particularly for KS2 students. The terms 'lots of' and 'groups of' are often used to introduce the concept of multiplication, illustrating the idea of repeated addition. When we say 'times', such as in 'three times', we're referring to the number of groups in the multiplication. The symbol 'x' is used to denote the operation of multiplication, and when we 'multiply', we are calculating the total number of items in these groups. The 'multiplication' process can result in a 'product', which is the answer to a multiplication problem.
Furthermore, 'multiplied by' indicates the action of scaling a number by a certain factor, and a 'multiple of' refers to a number that can be divided by another number without a remainder. Basic multiplication facts include 'once', 'twice', 'three times' up to 'twelve times', which are foundational for understanding multiplication as repeated addition. An 'array' is a visual representation of multiplication, consisting of 'rows' and 'columns', and to 'double' means to multiply a number by two. Conversely, 'halve' means to divide a number by two. When we 'share' or 'share equally', we are dividing a total into a number of equal parts, and terms like 'one each', 'two each' or 'group in pairs' help to conceptualise this division into equal groups.
The division is represented by the symbol '÷', and when we 'divide', we are essentially splitting a number into specified parts. 'Divided by' is the term used when we are separating a number by another, and 'division' is the process of finding out how many times one number is contained within another. The term 'divided into' refers to the action of partitioning a number, and 'left' or 'left over' describes what remains after division if the numbers do not divide evenly, also known as the 'remainder'. The symbol '=' stands for 'equals', indicating that two quantities are the same, and the 'equals sign' is used to show the result of a calculation. 'Scaling' involves either 'scaling up' (multiplying) or 'scaling down' (dividing) a number by a factor, while properties such as 'commutative' and 'associative' refer to specific rules that apply to the operations of multiplication and division. The 'dividend' is the number being divided, and the 'divisor' is the number by which the dividend is divided.
