FUN MULTIPLICATION PUZZLES: GRADE LEVELS 4 & UP
One of the challenges for students to successfully perform in elementary mathematics is the mastery of the multiplication tables.
These self-checking FUN MULTIPLICATION PUZZLES provide students of GRADES 4 and UP with a great way to practice, apply and reinforce their multiplication and division skills – thus enabling them to perform simple calculations, as in mental arithmetic, WITHOUT AN OVER-RELIANCE ON THE CALCULATOR.
Each puzzle represents an incomplete multiplication table. Given that any number in the top row of the grid times any number in the left column is equal to the number (or product) where the row and column meet, the object of the puzzle is to use the products shown as clues to complete the table by filling in all the empty squares (or cells) with the correct numbers.
Mastery of the multiplication tables is essential to the mastery of fractions, where, for example, the student is required to determine common denominators, common factors, factor pairs, or factorize a number. Besides fractions, other topic areas where the multiplication tables are useful include: clock arithmetic, base arithmetic, factorizing trinomials, and probability calculations.
Puzzles can be employed as worksheets in a classroom or as a pastime activity, just for fun.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Guyana-born Lyndon, is a retired senior engineer of E. I. DuPont and Nemours and Company. He is the author of Mechanism Analysis (1st and 2nd Editions): Simplified Graphical and Analytical Techniques (an engineering textbook written for mechanical engineers and students of mechanical engineering), as well as dozens of technical papers on engineering and mathematics, and a holder of 7 United States patents including the one on which this puzzle as well as the “TIMES TABLES SHUFFLE” App is based.
Lyndon has also taught mathematics at Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware, and -is listed in The Marquis Publication of “The Who’s Who in Engineering and Science in America.
