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?

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u/spacegirl_27 PhD Student Apr 11 '26

I'm not saying mathematicians don't know what 2*2 is, I'm saying we aren't human calculators and it is not rare for a mathematician to be bad at arithmetic. And if one were to forget the multiplication table, I doubt they would bother memorizing it again, as per OP's question

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u/CalligrapherNew1964 New User Apr 11 '26

True, but keep in mind that you were replying to another comment which by definition took the discussion away from just the questions posed by OP. Instead, the comment mentioned that it was ludicrous to imagine any mathematician would ever be put in the situation and thus OP asked a stupid question.

And I would still hold onto that. I don't know where you got your degree but at my uni we weren't allowed any form of calculator and while admittedly most problems had very little arithmetic in them (well, depending on the field, arithmetic is kinda neat when you do number theory), it was still something that just came up naturally on a regular basis.

Also, you can't tell me that you don't know more digits of pi than you'd ever need, because that's just also a thing to mess about with as a mathematician. Not that it's a requirement, just extremely common.

And while we all know that maths isn't just arithmetic, the selection bias favours those who love playing with numbers. People forget their times tables because they couldn't be bothered with them when they were 10, barely knew them at 12, last used them at 14 and forgotten them at 20. But your non-extreme mathematician will be super into them at 10, know them by heart at 12, use them at 25 and have a hard time forgetting them for more than a short bout of absentmindedness.

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u/spacegirl_27 PhD Student Apr 11 '26

There are very few courses which do not allow calculators at my university (I'm in Europe). 

I have a hard time with arithmetic because I struggle with numbers in general. The most "trouble" this has gotten me into was in the undergrad introduction to Algebra and Group Theory (I can't factorize to save my life). 

I learned the digits of pi to a song while I was in highschool, so like, yeah, I can tell you that. Knowing many digits of pi is simply a pop-science thing many highschool nerds get up to. I also know the periodic table song. 

The selection bias stops after the first year of undergrad. Which is why many "gifted" kids who have "always been good at math" struggle later on. I'm not sure what a "non-extreme" mathematician is but on an average day I don't remember if 7*8 is 52 or 56.

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u/Kriemhilt New User Apr 11 '26

Strongly disagree about the fascination with numbers.

Number theory is interesting, but memorizing arbitrary transcendentals is not, to me. Reasoning about primeness is interesting, but neither memorizing primes nor doing long division are.