Every times table, on one chart.

How to use a multiplication chart

Find the first number down the left side and the second across the top. The square where the row and column meet is the answer. The chart is symmetrical, so 6 × 7 and 7 × 6 are the same square on both sides of the diagonal. Of the 144 squares on a 12 by 12 chart, only 78 are different facts.

Patterns worth finding

• The 9s. The digits of every multiple of 9 up to 90 add to 9: 18 is 1 + 8, 27 is 2 + 7, and so on.
• The 5s. Always end in 5 or 0.
• The 10s. Add a zero. The 11s up to 9 are the digit twice: 33, 44, 55.
• Squares. The diagonal from the top left runs 1, 4, 9, 16, 25. Switch on the square-numbers pattern to see it.
• Even and odd. An odd answer needs two odd numbers, so the odd squares form a grid within the chart.

Learn the hard ones last

Start with the 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s and 11s, which follow simple patterns. Then the 3s, 4s and 9s. That leaves a small set that many children find hardest: 6 × 7, 6 × 8, 7 × 8, 7 × 9 and 8 × 9 are common sticking points. Spend your quiz time there.

Practising with the quiz

The quiz picks 20 different facts at random from 2 to the top of your chart. Answers are timed, a mistake adds three seconds, and after each answer the chart lights the square so you see where the fact lives. Take it a few times a week and watch the time drop. If your time stops dropping, look at which facts you got wrong and practise those.

Printing

Print the filled chart to keep beside homework, or the blank chart for the child to fill in from memory. Both print on one page.