Should You Learn Your Times Tables?

There is some debate among maths teachers and academics about whether it is important to learn your times tables. Certainly it is possible to be an effective mathematician without learning them off by heart but there is also evidence that learning basic maths facts can free up our brains to work on the tougher problems.

I have to confess that I was not a student who learnt their tables off by heart, it was not until I became a full time maths teacher and used tables every hour of every working day that I learnt them. At school I had methods for calculating my tables pretty quickly. For example my 5s were done by halving and timesing by 10 e.g. 8 x 5 = 4 x 10 = 40, my 12s were done by adding my 10s and 2s e.g. 8 x 12 = 80 + 16 = 96, my 9s by subtracting 1s from 10s e.g. 8 x 9 = 80 - 8 = 72. These methods were quite efficient but 7s took a while to get to and they meant I had to be able to add and subtract mentally quickly and accurately.

It could be argued that having these calculation methods meant that my understanding of maths and my mental calculations were strengthened. But I now believe that for those who think they are not 'good' at maths learning tables and other basic maths facts can provide a gateway to feeling confident about maths.

Times tables are used in so many other areas of maths such as fractions, factorising, ratio, division etc. that knowing them can lead to faster and more accurate outcomes across the board. Indeed the research into cognitive load suggests that if we make basic processes automatic it can free up our brain power to work on the more challenging problems. If learners are busy calculating 8 x 9 they may give up before applying that fact to the probability question they are trying to answer.

So what is the best way to learn your times tables? Well I'll cover that in detail in my next post but for now I'll give you a clue: It's the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.....

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