Max Maths, Year 4, Learn together, Multiplication review (2)

In the 'Max Maths, Year 4, Learn together' programme, students are encouraged to explore and identify patterns within a multiplication table as part of their review on multiplication. The table presented to the students lists the products of numbers 1 through 10 when multiplied by each other. By examining the table, students can observe that each row and each column represents a different times table, making it a useful tool for visualising and reinforcing their understanding of multiplication.

One notable pattern that students are guided to spot is the diagonal line of green numbers, which shows the squares of numbers, meaning each number is multiplied by itself. For instance, they may notice that the number 12 appears multiple times within the table, indicating that 12 can be the product of various multiplication pairs such as 4 times 3 and 6 times 2. This leads to the realisation that multiplication is commutative; the order of the numbers does not affect the product, as shown by the fact that 2 times 6 is equal to 6 times 2, and 4 times 3 is the same as 3 times 4. The lesson aims to develop students' ability to calculate times tables mentally and to recognise the underlying patterns that make multiplication a systematic and predictable mathematical operation.