Q&A for How to Multiply With Your Hands

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Is it bad to multiply with your fingers?

David Jia
Math Tutor
David Jia is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of LA Math Tutoring, a private tutoring company based in Los Angeles, California. With over 10 years of teaching experience, David works with students of all ages and grades in various subjects, as well as college admissions counseling and test preparation for the SAT, ACT, ISEE, and more. After attaining a perfect 800 math score and a 690 English score on the SAT, David was awarded the Dickinson Scholarship from the University of Miami, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Additionally, David has worked as an instructor for online videos for textbook companies such as Larson Texts, Big Ideas Learning, and Big Ideas Math.

David Jia

Math Tutor

Expert Answer

I don't see anything wrong with it. Everyone learns differently, so do whatever it takes to help you learn the material. Over time, you'll become more confident with it, and you probably won't use your hands anymore anyway.

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Question

Is this useful when multiplying fractions?

Community Answer

No, it can get complicated if you are multiplying fractions. You could try using it to multiply simple numerators and simple denominators, however.

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Question

How do I multiply by 12 with my hands?

Community Answer

To multiply 12x12, imagine that you have two extra fingers on each of your hands, which gives you a run from 6 to 12 from your pinkie to the second extra finger. That also means seven fingers on each of your hands. You now have a total of fourteen 10's, since each of your fingers represents 10, which gives us 140. Then you only have to multiply the number of opposing extra fingers, which gives us 4, and a grand total of 144.

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Question

How do I multiply by 10?

Donagan

Top Answerer

See Part 2 Step 6 above. But you don't need your hands to multiply by ten. Just place a zero immediately to the right of the right-most digit. For example, 71 x 10 is 710, and 398 x 10 is 3,980.

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How do you multiply 7 by 4?

Community Answer

If you're using your fingers, put up seven fingers four separate times. Count the total number of fingers you put up.

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Can you multiply 7x4 with this technique?

Community Answer

Yes. You can raise seven fingers four times or four fingers seven times. You'll get the same total either way.

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