Talk:Multiplication

Removing Bible material whose relevance to multiplication is slim

Multiplication is mentioned in the Bible when God tells Noah to go forth and multiply. (Joke! Really that is a different kind of multiplication.) However, Noah did have to use multiplication when he made the ark, because Genesis 6:15 says:

And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

So Noah knew the ark had to be a volume of 300 times 50 times 30 is 450000 cubics³, to fit two of all the animals in the world in it.

Since the first sentence is acknowledged to be a joke and not to refer to the arithmetic operation, it shouldn't be there.

The Ark example isn't very good, for two reasons. First, in the Bible, the product of the three numbers is not mentioned, so this is not an example of a use of multiplication in the Bible. (It would be very relevant in an article about the three dimensions of ordinary space).

Second, the computation as presented is almost certainly wrong, since the Ark was surely shaped shaped like a boat, not like a rectangular box, and therefore its volume would not have been 450,000 cubits³ but some subtantially smaller number, which cannot be calculated exactly from the given data. Dpbsmith 20:02, 22 March 2007 (EDT)

Multiplication table

This article should have the multiplication table ("times table"). I suppose that the generic child using Conservapedia already knows it, but having it for review purposes can't harm. In addition (pun not intended!), the table makes it easier to understand the whole concept of multiplication. Unfortunately, I'm completely wiki-ignorant, and don't know how to insert tables in articles. SilvioB 20:47, 30 August 2008 (EDT)

I think that's a very good idea... maybe I'll try to put something together. Human 17:28, 31 August 2008 (EDT)

Retreading previous material?

Didn't this article used to be longer? I was just putting in some stuff about the symbols used, and it seemed a bit deja vu. Was there a reason for deleting some of this article, and did I miss it? Didn't mean to re-add that which was decided was inappropriate... Human 18:15, 31 August 2008 (EDT)

Illustrations and examples

How about a diagram? I've taught multiplication to several children of one-digit age by showing them rows of objects. Like, 2 rows of 6 eggs is 12 (a dozen eggs) or three groups of two coins make 6 coins. Counting by twos is a cheap way to get started on multiplying (and by the way learning your two times table); see times table.

Don't be in a hurry to get all formal and grad schoolish. We need to give our readers practical knowledge. --Ed Poor ^Talk 21:36, 1 September 2008 (EDT)

Symbol

Several conventions are used to indicate multiplication.

• For simple numbers, the symbol (<math>\times</math>) used looks much like the letter "X", as in the examples above.
• Since the "X" looks like a letter, and letters are commonly used in algebra to indicate unknowns, or variables, the "dot" is frequently used: A &#149; B = B &#149; A.
• Alternatively a period may be used to denote multiplication
• Also, in algebraic use, quantities are simply juxtaposed to indicate that they are to be multiplied:

Y = 3aX + 4bZ