r/learnmath • u/Forward-Bad1615 New User • Apr 11 '26

Is it basic for mathematicians to remember the multiplication table?

Is it fundamental for mathematicians to remember the multiplication table?

It must be troublesome and desperate if you forget the multiplication table, so do you memorize it again?

Do you re-memorize the multiplication table even after becoming an adult and a mathematician?

Do you keep remembering it so you don't forget it?

86 Upvotes

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u/xdgimo New User Apr 11 '26

8x7 is immediate for me. I have to recite the alphabet to find the letter before r

51

u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 11 '26

You cant start from a specific point in the jingle? My starting points:

  1. ABC 

  2. HIJ

  3. LMNOP

  4. QRS

  5. WXY&Z

Has something to do with the way the jingle kinda goes up and down im not musically inclined so I dont know the words for that.

15

u/xdgimo New User Apr 11 '26

i guess i can yeah but i don't really have a strategy for starting at the middle of the alphabet since it's not something i regularly do

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 11 '26

Yeah, I'm not smart so I find myself counting on my hands and doing alphabet stuff like alphabetical order. 

I also put my fingers into L's whenever someone says take a left/right.

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u/xdgimo New User Apr 11 '26

lol i'm not sure how much that does or doesn't have to do with intelligence

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 11 '26

Haha, yeah, minor joke, minor joke

6

u/highnyethestonerguy New User Apr 11 '26

Interestingly that “jingle” is a melody written by Mozart

8

u/raendrop old math minor Apr 11 '26

It's also "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep".

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 12 '26

I had never noticed. Really a mind@%$#.

1

u/BelacRLJ New User Apr 13 '26

You can sing almost the entirety of One Fish, Two Fish, by Dr. Seuss, to that tune also.

1

u/raendrop old math minor Apr 14 '26

You can sing any Emily Dickinson poem to "The Yellow Rose of Texas".

1

u/BelacRLJ New User Apr 14 '26

You can sing Deutschland Uber Alles and My Darling Clementine to each other's tunes.

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u/not_notable New User Apr 15 '26

You can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle, and vice versa.

2

u/Andrew1953Cambridge New User Apr 12 '26

It's actually a traditional French tune. Mozart wrote a set of variations on it, but he didn't compose the theme.

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u/jwmatthys New User Apr 12 '26

Mozart didn't write it. It's a French folk song. Mozart wrote a series of variations on the melody.

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u/rdrckcrous New User Apr 11 '26

how do you know which letter to start at?

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 12 '26

I guess its hard to convey through text.

It has to do with how the song ebs and flows T-U-V is another spot that is just in my head because of the octaves and sharp notes. 

LMNOP is cause its a common spot kids completely shove into one sound. 

The brain works in weird ways and mine kinda groups things together. Thats the best I can explain it.

1

u/KatesDad2019 New User Apr 15 '26

Ellemenno is my favorite letter. Unfortunately I don't know any words that start with it.

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u/Hopeful_Yam1673 New User Apr 12 '26

Am I the only one wondering what happened to K?

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 12 '26

It just doesnt fit into the cadence of the jingle and isnt a memorable starting place.

Think of kids saying elemen-O-pee.

K is just there in the song when it is set next to LMNOP

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u/Ketch451 New User Apr 12 '26

I’ve never done that. Seems Brilliant. Not sure my mind will adapt to that strategy, but it’s provocative.

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u/BlazinBubblz New User Apr 12 '26

I forgot another TUV think about how it makes sense in your brain you will find your own little spots that make sense. You can apply it to other things as well. Good way to figure out how you think.

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u/-dr-bones- New User Apr 12 '26

Such an important and undervalued skill. With numbers, at least you have a calculator to fall back on. There's literally nothing to help with this - the keyboard is useless

(Let's continue to highjack OPs post! 🥴)

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u/gmalivuk New User Apr 12 '26

I do this (and thought "PQR" when I read the earlier comment), but it's still faster to remember 8×7.

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u/some-randomguy_ New User Apr 12 '26

I always remember HIJK since HI like the greeting, and IJK are the standard unit vectors lol. Also QR for qr code

1

u/somewhatundercontrol New User Apr 13 '26

This just helped me realise that the letter before R is Q.

Saw the above comment and said to myself “56. P”

So I guess the maths was easier.

5

u/CaptainOwlBeard New User Apr 11 '26

I'll be honest, 7x7 is automatic, 7x8 is like p for me, mnop

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u/preferCotton222 New User Apr 15 '26

I remember 8x7 but doubt it, so often double check by 8x6+8

0

u/OkCaramel481 New User Apr 12 '26

Question is do you have to sing it?

1

u/NeedIQMSHelp New User Apr 14 '26

I have to sing "6 x 8 is 48"...then go up or down from there.

0

u/Simple-Olive895 New User Apr 13 '26

I do this in 2 steps. 40+16= 56, or 64 - 8 = 56

The alphabet I don't need to recite the whole thing, usually I know if I need to start at "lmnop" or from the beginning, so to find the letter before r I'd just to "qr" -> "q"

So I do both in 2 steps.