learning the Ten Times Table.

Tim got them all right.

Tam got them all wrong.

Their teacher asked Tim to help Tam to learn the Ten Times Table.

"It's not fair!" Tam said. "I'm just as smart as you.

But I got them all wrong and you got them all right! How come?"

Tim smiled.

"I learnt my Ten Times Table at home," he said.

"Do you want to know how I did it?"

"Of course!"

"Every time I say Something Times Ten, I just add a zero

to that number. Then I always get them right."

"Oh," said Tam. "So if I want Three Times Ten,

I just add a zero to the three?"

"That's right! Try it," said Tim.

"So Three Times Ten is - thirty! And I can write it like this:

3 x 10 = 30. That's clever!"

Tam was very pleased. He tried Four Times Ten - forty!

4 x 10 = 40

Eight Times Ten - eighty! 8 x 10 = 80!

"Yee-Hah!" Tam shouted. "Now I can do ANYTHING TIMES TEN!"

"That's right," said Tim. "All you have to remember for any whole

number times ten is just add a zero."

They did lots of Times Ten sums. Here are a few for you to try:

5 x 10 =
2 x 10 =
7 x 10 =
9 x 10 =
6 x 10 =
3 x 10 =
4 x 10 =
10 x 10 =


Tam was thinking. But what if it was Ten Times Something?

10 x 5 =
10 x 2 =
10 x 7 =
10 x 9 =
10 x 6 =
10 x 3 =
10 x 4 =
10 x 10 =


"That's clever!" he said.

"Yes," Tim agreed. "Multiplying is like adding up.

It doesn't matter which number comes first."

"But why does it work that way?" asked Tam.

"Why can we get the right answer just by writing a zero

on the number we're doing ten times of?"

Tim shrugged. "I'm not sure."

DO YOU KNOW WHY IT WORKS?

Think about how many fingers we have,

and how we write our numerals.

BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER

WHEN YOU ARE MULTIPLYING A WHOLE NUMBER

BY TEN

(OR TEN TIMES A WHOLE NUMBER)

JUST ADD A ZERO!

Here are some fun numbers to try! They are BIG numbers!

10 x 45 =
10 x 17 =
10 x 42 =
10 x 99 =
10 x 345 =
10 x 745 =
10 x 246 =
10 x 999 =
85 x 10 =
72 x 10 =
54 x 10 =
55 x 10 =
167 x 10 =
969 x 10 =
124 x 10 =
454 x 10 =