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Multiplying by 2-Digit Numbers

The document discusses teaching students to multiply two-digit numbers. It explains how to build on knowledge of multiplying by single digits to multiplying by multiples of ten. Students learn that the product is the same digits shifted left. The technique of breaking problems like 23 x 38 into 20 x 38 and 3 x 38 is introduced. Estimation skills are also practiced.

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208 views

Multiplying by 2-Digit Numbers

The document discusses teaching students to multiply two-digit numbers. It explains how to build on knowledge of multiplying by single digits to multiplying by multiples of ten. Students learn that the product is the same digits shifted left. The technique of breaking problems like 23 x 38 into 20 x 38 and 3 x 38 is introduced. Estimation skills are also practiced.

Uploaded by

Digi-Block
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Multiplying by Two-Digit Numbers

Focus
Extending ideas to two-digit multipliers

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rom their experience in the previous sections, students can multiply any number by a single-digit number. Soon, they will extend that thinking to multiplying by two-digit numbers. But first, students need to learn how to extend their knowledge of basic facts to find products of, for example, 30 80. This ability allows students to estimate and to check the reasonableness of answers to examples such as 32 81. (Note that this idea assumes the ability to write a number from any place; that is, students should recognize how to write the numeral for 24 hundreds.) By continuing to explore the physical model, students discover that 23 45 is equal to 20 45 + 3 45, and the algorithm evolves naturally, with understanding.

Multiplying by Ten
Students may already have ways of multiplying by 10. At this point, they know that 12 10 means that they should make 12 groups of 10. Then, from their understanding of our number code, they know that they write 12 tens as 120. To make this process explicit, have students form the 12 groups with blocks-of-10 and record the related number sentence. Ask students to follow a similar procedure for 8 10 and 15 10. Ask,

What do you notice about these number sentences?


Have students discuss the results. Encourage them to use their own words to form a generalization. As one fourth grade student stated, The digits are the same. They just moved over once to the left. Students who have already learned a rule for this may suggest that you just add a zero at the end. While this works for whole numbers, such a rule can lead to confusion later when students work with decimal numbers. For example, 1.52 10 is not 1.520. On the other hand, in line with the image of digits being shifted one place to the left, 1.52 10 does become 15.2. The blocks offer strong visual reinforcement for this shift. When we multiply a group of blocks by 10, the blocks are replaced with blocks one size larger, and on the Place mats, the Digit Flip Cards move one place to the left. So, for 14 10, we start with 1 block-of-10 and 4 singles. After multiplying, we get 1 block-of-100 and 4 blocks-of-10. Have the students predict the answers to 43 10, 10 10, and 236 10, and discuss how they found their answers. Give particular attention to the fact that 10 tens is 100, as they know from making a block-of-100.
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Once students have had some experience with the simple process of multiplying any number by 10, they need to recognize that exactly the same method works for multiplying 10 by any number. This is an opportunity to explore the order property of multiplication, or the idea that changing the order of the factors does not change the product. Ask students to model 10 37 with the blocks. Some may immediately recognize (through the order property) that 10 37 is the same as 37 tens. This relationship may not be obvious to others, who will build 10 When we multiply by 10 (14 10), each block is replaced with groups of 37, then combine and pack them. a block thats one size larger. They will discover that the result gives them the same digits, 3 and 7, but shifted one place to the left (370). Ask,

Why do you think this happened?


Provide time for students to discuss their ideas. To encourage generalization, ask, What is 10 45? 45 10? 10 150? 150 10? Students should be able to generalize, in their own words: Whether we multiply any number by 10 or 10 by any number, the result is a number with the exact same digits, only shifted one place to the left. You may want to extend this idea to multiplying by 100. Again, our base ten number system makes this simple. When we multiply a number by 100, the result is a number with the exact same digits, only shifted two places to the left.

Multiplying by Multiples of Ten


Have students find 20 3. Some students may model 20 groups of 3 and others, 3 groups of 20. Encourage students to share their techniques, decide which is easier, and write the corresponding number sentence. Then ask, How is this like 2 3? (2 3 = 6 and 20 3 = 60. The digit 6 is shifted to the left because we multiplied by 2 tens.) Encourage the students to apply this thinking to other examples. Ask, How can basic facts help you to find 30 6? 40 7? To extend students thinking further, present 2 36. When students agree that the product is 72, ask them, How can you use this example to predict the product of 20 36?
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Continue with other examples. Ask students to explain their thinking. Help them to generalize that they can multiply as if by ones, then shift the digits one place to the left. Finally, ask students how they can find 30 80. Some students may suggest multiplying 3 80 and then shifting the digits. Others may suggest using the basic fact 3 8 and shifting the digits two places to the left, once for each ten. Be sure students connect this to the fact that 10 10 = 100. Again, you may want to extend these ideas to multiples of 100. The next step is learning how to multiply by any two-digit number.

Modeling Multiplication of Two-Digit Numbers


Once students understand how to multiply by 10, 20, 30 and so on, they can discover a techinque that helps them multiply any two-digit numbers. This technique is based on knowing the distributive property of multiplication, an idea they encountered when multiplying with single blocks in section 3-2. According to this property, 12 16 = (10 16) + (2 16). Students can discover this property, and its usefulness, when asked to model the example with blocks. Ask students to show the number of single blocks in 12 groups of 16. They may work together to do this. Before they pack, ask,

What is a way we could count some of these blocks without packing?


If no one suggests counting 10 groups of 16, ask,

Would finding 10 groups of 16 help us? Why? Where are 10 groups of 16 in this model? What number do these blocks show? (160)
Have students separate the 10 groups and ask, How many groups of 16 are left? (2) What number do these blocks show? (32) How can we find the answer without packing? (32 + 160) Next present the example 14 57. Ask,

If you were going to show this with blocks, what would you do? (make 14 groups of 57) Is there an easy way you could count the blocks? (find 10 57 and 4 57 and add
the results) Repeat for 24 35. Some students may suggest finding 10 35 twice and then 4 more groups of 35, and this is fine. Repeat with additional examples. Over time, if no one suggests counting, for example, 20 groups of 35, you might wonder aloud about doing so.

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Using Paper-and-Pencil Techniques
Since students know how to multiply 20 38 and 3 38, they can find the product of 23 38 by combining the two. Initially, students can write such an example as two separate problems and then add to find the total. This technique can then be easily consolidated into the more traditional algorithm.

38 3 114

38 20 760

1 14 + 760 874

38 23 1 1 4 (3 38) + 7 6 0 (20 38) 8 7 4 (23 38)

While people generally use calculators for multidigit computation, estimation skills are essential for checking the reasonableness of the answers. So for 23 38, a student could think 20 40 = 800 and thats fairly close. Also present students with problems such as the following:

There are 23 rows of chairs in the theater. There are 21 chairs in each row. Are there enough chairs for 400 people to see the show?
Have students discuss their strategies for estimating whether 21 23 is more or less than 400. Provide additional examples for further practice.

Practicing Key Ideas


Using Facts
In pairs, students choose a basic multiplication fact (for example, 4 6 = 24). Then they write a list of other multiplication sentences they know based on this fact. (In this case they might write 6 40 = 240, 40 6 = 240, 60 40 = 2400, and so on.)

More or Less?
Have students work in pairs. They pick a three-digit number and either less or more . They then find three examples with two-digit numbers that have products less (or more) than the chosen number and find the products. For example, suppose students pick 325 and less . They might list examples like 10 30 = 300, 11 25 = 275, and 15 20 = 300.

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Assessing Learning
1. Present 10 14. Ask the student to find the product and explain his or her thinking. Does the student work abstractly or use the blocks? find the correct answer? clearly explain his or her thinking? 2. Present 30 57 and say,

Without using the blocks, show me how to find the answer. Tell me what youre thinking as you work.
Does the student find the correct answer? clearly explain his or her thinking? 3. Ask the student to find 13 45. Does the student model the example correctly with blocks or paper-and-pencil techniques? find the correct answer? clearly explain his or her thinking? 4. Present an estimation problem like the following:

The farmer has 42 cartons of eggs. There are 12 eggs in each carton. Does the farmer have more or less than 400 eggs in all?
Ask the student to explain his or her thinking. Does the student find the correct answer? clearly explain his or her thinking?

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