UNIT 8 MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION

Structure Page No.

Introduction
Objectives
The Prerequisites For Multiplication
Making Equally Sized Groups
Adding Equally Sized Groups
Developing An Understanding'Of Multiplication
Constructing Tables Versus Rote Learning
The Multiplication Algorithm
The Distributive Law
How Does The Algorithm Work?.
What Division Means
Algorithm For Division
summary
Comments,On Exercises

8.1 INTRODUCTION
When a Class 5 child was given the problem 'If I paid Rs.60 for 30 pencil boxes, how
much did b pencil box cost?', he said it would be 60 x 30 = 1800. This is in spite of the fact
that he was considered a good student, and had done consistently well in all his tests
dealing with multiplication and division. Unfortunately, he 1 . not an exception.

Why has such a situation arisen? To answer this we need to examine our teaching strategies
thoroughly. We did this in the context of addition and subtraction in the last unit. In this
unit we shall suggest some methods for communicating various aspects of multiplication
and division to children. You could accept, discard or mod@ these strategies.

To start with, we shall look at ways of introducing children to multiplication. This

operation, like additi~nand subtraction, is often used in daily life. For instance, when we go
to the market and buy 10 Kg of rice at Rs.5 a Kg, we multiply to calculate the amount to be
paid. Or, when we make arrangements-for lunch for 50 people, we multiply to estimate the
total expenditure. Of course, you can think of many more examples. In the first two
sections, we discuss ways of using such instances from a child's life to help her understand
what multiplication is, and where it should be applied.

In Sec. 8.4 we look at problem related to rote learning of tables. Children are made to do
this because, supposedly, it helps them to store the basic multiplication facts in the mind, .
and to retrieve them quickly as and when required. In this section we discuss why rote
learning is not a good way of achieving this aim. What is required is repetition done in
meaninglid and interesting ways, from the child's point of view.

In Sec.8.5 we talk about problems that arise because of the usual way of teaching the
multiplication algorithm. There are numerous examples of children learning to solve
problems in a mechanical way and not understanding the meaning of what they are doing,
producing answers which are nowhere near the order of magnitude expected. The child
needs to learn more than just facts, and acquire morp than just the ability to write the
algorithm and perform it on a given set of numbers. w e look at some ways of helping her to
OG so.
In Sec. 8:6 we start our discussion on division, considered by many to be the most diEcult
of all the four fundamental operations. We have also discussed the different kinds of word
problems related to division that children would come across. We go on to highlight the
major difficulties faced by children while learning division and the different terminologies
associated with division. Of course we have suggested some teaching strategies that may
help solve these difficulties. .
In Sec.8.7 we discuss ways of solving the problems that children face whkn dealing with the
division algorithm. We also explain why the algorithm works.

As in the other units, throughout this unit we have included several activities to make the
learning of these concepts interesting to the child. We hope that you will adapt or extend
them to help children learn other related concepts / processes / skills.

Objectives *a

After reading this unit, you should be able to

a explain the meaning of multiplication / division and interpret it in different contexts;
a convert symbolic multiplication / division examples into stories and vice-versa;
a identify the difficultiesexperienced by children in comprehending multiplication /
division problems, processes and patterns;
a evolve child-centred activities for effectively teaching the meaning and algorithm of
multiplication / division.

8.2 THE PREREQUISITES FOR MULTIPLICATION

The word 'multiply', used in ordinary language, bears the meaning 'increase enormously'
For instance, bacteria multiply in favourable conditions. In the context of arithmetic, the
meaningof 'multiply' is more precise. It still refers to an increase, but to what extent
depends on the numbers involved. The operation of multiplication requires us to repeatedly
add a number to itself a certain number of times. For instance, 4 multiplied by 3 is 4+4+4.
Therefore, to begin the process of teaching multiplication, it is necessary that the children
are somewhat familiar with the addition process. Of course, it is not necessary for them to
have mastered addition before they begin multiplication. If they have begun to feel
comfortable with addition and have understood what it means in simple contexts, then the
process of learning of multiplication can be begun. The learning of addition would continue
alongside, and both these would support each other.

How should we introduce children to multiplication? This concept is usually presented for
the first time to children of Class 2 (of the age group 6 or 7) as a series of unrelated facts, to
be learnt by heart. This is why the 9-year-old who had calculated 28 x 3 couldn't
immediately tell me what 29 x 3 was.

How can we help children discover what multiplication really is? To do this, we need to be
clear about what the prerequisite skills are. Apart from understanding additioa, children
should be able to make groups of equal sizes, and be able to add such groups, before
being formally introduced to multiplication.

We have already discussed ways of teaching children addition in Unit 7. Ovei here we shall
discuss ways of developing the two other abilities, one by one.

8.2.1 Making Equally Sized Groups

By the time children reach Class 1 or 2, they would have had many experiences of pairs of
objects-pairs of shoes, pairs of eyes, ears, arms, legs, wings, etc. They would also have
seen groups of three, like the legs of a tripod, the leaves of 'flame of the forest' (see
Fig. l(a)), blades of a fan, etc. Or, if we think in terms of groups of four, they may be
familiar with the petals of the mustard flower (see Fig. 1@)), legs of a tablelchairldog, ,
 wheels of a car, etc. For introducing them to the idea of gathering groups of a given size, Multipliriition and Division
you could ask them to consider objects which form such natural groups of small numbers.
They could also be asked to collect seeds, straws, beads, marbles, etc., and each child (or
group of children) could make equal-sized sets of her choice (or the group's choice).

(a) (b)
Fig.l:(a) A set of leaves of 'flame of the forest', @) a tilustard flower.

Another activity that could be thought of for this is telling 'number tales'. You could create
an imaginary story in which groups of two (or three, or four, etc.) appear. For instance, you
could say, "Now I shall tell you a story of 'two'. You have to tell me how many sets of two
are in the story. Raju and his sister were going home from school. On the way they saw a
parrot lying on the ground. It was hurt. It tried to move its wings, but could not. Just then,
a man came there riding a bicycle with red tyres. He had a pair of blackbirds in a cage. He
saw the parrot, picked it up with both his arms, and put it in the cage."

You could do similar activities using pictures that have many things (birds, animals, etc.) in
groups of different sizes. The children could be asked to identify the groups of 2 objects in
it, then those of 3 objects, and so on.

Here is a related exercise for you.

- -

E l ) Create stories of '5' which may help children identlfy groups of 5.

Multiplication begins when children add groups of equal size. Let us see how we can help
children pick up this ability, and master it.

8.2.2 Adding Equally Sized Groups

Once children have had enough practice of making groups of equal size, you can ask them
to add some of these equal groups. They can now begin to attempt questions like 'How
many things are there altogether in 2 bags of 3 marbles each?'. They can do several
activities of this kind. Gradually they can move on to adding more and more equally sized
groups of larger sizes, like 5 groups of 6 objects each. Children doing such activities slowly
begin to count serially with equally sized regular gaps. This is called skip counting.

Children can practise skip counting through games, stories and other activities. For
instance, they can play 'dash'. In this game children sit in a circle and count serially. Each
child says one number turn by turn. The rule is that wherever a multiple of a pre-decided
number occurs, that child has to say 'dash' instead of saying the number aloud. For
example, if the number chosen is four, then the first child will say 1, followed by the second
child saying 2, and then the next ones say 3, 'dash', 5 , 6 , 7, and again 'dash', and so on. A
different number can be chosen, say 7, the next time round. In this case 7, 14, etc., would
not be spoken out. Slowly a pattern of the absent numbers begins to form in the mind of the

i children. Activities of counting equal groups, and those like 'dash', help form this pattern.
This recognition slowly leads the child to learn to count with equal gaps.
Skip counting cqn also be practised through stories that use a number strip. The strip can
consist of numbers written serially from 1to 50. Different things can be made on the strip.
For example, (1) can have a tree, (2) can have a butterfly, and so on. You could add a
river, mountain, house, etc. A story can be made about a jumping rabbit and a hopping
frog, for example. The frog can only hop three steps at a time and the rabbit can only jump
four steps at a time. They are good friends, and they often meet. You could ask the
children at which numbers the two can meet. The condition that the rabbit jumps four steps
means that the rabbit can only go to those points which are multiples of 4. It cannot get to
the things that are on the other cells. It can ask the help of the frog to get some of the
things which are not accessible to it but are accessible to the frog. The children could be
asked which objects these are. A possible strip upto 20 cells is given in Fig.2.

Fig.2: Part of a number strip with a story.

You can have several variations of the story to get children to practise other processes too.

Now, why don't you try and evolve some activities that involve skip counting?

E2) Evolve a group activity with cards numbered from 1to 50 or 100 for children to
.practise skip c o d i n g in an interesting way.

E3) Evolve an outdoor game which helps children practise skip counting in fives.
Counting a number of equal groups and skip counting w@ a given group size are Multiplication and Division
essentially the same process. Both these actually imply multiplying two numbers. So, once
children are comfortable with adding equally sized groups, they could be formally
introduced to multiplication.
.
8.3 DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANIDNG OF .
MULTIPLICATION
The most important aspect of knowing multiplication is to understand what it means and
where it is applied. It needs to be first introduced to children as an activity with concrete
objects, and not as an operation. This can be done in several contexts. Before looking at
possible activities, let us consider the various situations involving multiplication that
children would come across.

When we think about the contexts for multiplication, we can categorise them as:
a Equal groupings -when we want to find how many objects there are in several
equal-sized sets. (e.g., if there are 3 baskets, each with 4 bananas, 4 oranges and 4
apples, respectively, how many fruit in all?)

Rate - when we know how many objects are in a set, and need to find out the total
&3BP
number in several copies of that set. (e.g., if a child uses 4 copybooks in a year, how
m a ~ ycopybooks would 8 children use in a year?)

a Array - when items are arranged in a regular rectangular pattern of rows and
columns, counting how many there are. (e.g., if there are 3 rows of 5 girls each,
how many girls are there altogether?)
Fig.3: An array showing
4x3
Scale (or multiplying factor) - situations in which we are given a quantity, and have
to find what it will be when enlarged by a factor. (e.g., ifbananas are Rs.6 a dozen,
and apples are 5 times as expensive, what is the price of a dozen apples?)

a Cartesian product - situations in which the total number of ordered pairs (or triples, 'Cutesian' comes fiom
or ...) aredo be found. (e.g., if Hari makes 'dosas' of 3 different sizes, with 4 different Descartes, the 17th century
types of fillings, how many different combinations are there?) French philosopher and
mathematician.

Ofthe five models given above, there appears to be no difference between the first two. But
thqe is. In the first model, you could have different kinds of objects in each set, but the size
of all the sets must be the same. In the 'rate' model, each set has the same objects and the
same size.

You may like to try the following exercise now.

E4) Construct at least two different example3 each, from the world of the children you
teach, for the 5 models of multiplication listed above.

Given the possible situations requiring multiplication, you can devise many activities that
could help children practise multiplication and understand the meaning of it. For example,
you could get children to estimate the number of sides a certain number of triangles
(say 2, 5 or 10 triangles) would have.

you could make a game in which teams of children have to throw a ball into a basket
(or bucket, or hole) from a distance. Each child get 5 tries and each success is worth 3
points. Children would calculate the number of points their team has got.

While introducing children to multiplication by using concrete objects in the variety of

contexts mentioned above, we must Iteep conversing with them about what they are doing.
Num bers-I This way they will build their understanding of the operation, as well as learn the associated
* language - terms like each, every, equal, how many times, etc. Regarding this aspect,
consider the following example.

Example 1: 6-year-old Rahul wasn't able to understand'multiplication when it was thrust

upon him in school. His mother discussed this problem with some of us. On the basis of
suggestions that came up in the discussion she decided to do some activities with him.

First, she brought out Rahul's collection of marbles. Both of them sat down to wrap the
marbles in paper packets, each having 4 marbles. Then she placed these packets in a
bucket. Next to it she placed an empty bucket. Now she asked Rahul to put one packet of
marbles at a time into the empty bucket. After he did this for, say 3 times, she asked him:
Mother : How many packets did you take out?
Rahul : 3. .
Mother : How many marbles in each packet?
Rahul : 4
Mother : So, how many marbles, if you take out 1 packet?"
Rahul : 4.
She wrote down l(4) = 4. Then she asked.him how many in 2 packets, and so on.
Simultaneously, she wrote and said
2 times 4 = 2(4) = 4 + 4 = 8
3 times 4 = 3(4) = 4 + 4 + 4 = 12

4 times 4 = 4(4) = 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16,

and so on, trying to show him a pattern in the language and the process.
2

She did similar exercises with him with groups of other objects till he realised that
multiplication was repeated addition. Soon, when asked, say, how many marbles in 8
packets of 4 each, he would say "8 times 4", add 4 eight times, and come up with the
answer.

In the example above, Rahul's mother used brackets to record multiplication. The
representation is useful for only some situations. For instance, you wouldn't be able to use
it for explaining the 'scale' model to a child. However, the formal symbol (i.e., x) should
only be introduced to children once they understand what multiplication is. Similarly,
formal terms like product, multiplicand, etc., should be introduced at a later stage, and by
exposing children to its use in the context of several practical examples.

One way to gauge whether children have understood multiplication is to ask them to
create word problems to represent given multiplication facts like 'seven times six'. If you
study the results of such an exercise with children, you may find very interesting
information about how much and what they have understood. For instance, you could see
which model of multiplication they are most comfortable with. Doing the following
exercise will give you a chance to see how effective this method is.

E5) Take some 7-year- olds and 11-year- olds around you. Give them a multiplication
. fact each (e.g., 6 x 3 = 18) a=d ask them to give you word problems that match them.
See which model of multiplication they tend to use, and if there is any difference in
this aspect between the two age groups.

So far we have discussed ways of helping a child learn multiplication. Let us now see how
they can learn to multiply efficiently.
 tiplication and Division
8.4 CONSTRUCTING TABLES VERSUS ROTE
LEARNING
Ask any adult how she would help a child to acquire simple multiplication facts. There is a
very strong possibility that she would say, "By getting her to learn the tabled." And what
method would she use for this? Getting the child to recite it again and again, that is, lots of
drill.

But is it necessary for children to recite and learn tables by rote? Teachers say that this is
needed for quick multiplication and immediate recall of multiplication facts. However,
constant recitation alone does not usually translate into quick recall of multiplication facts,
as the user needs to start from the beginning of the table each time.

Rather than emphasising drill, we need to make an effort to help children construct tables
so that they understand how the tables work. This is what Maya, a teacher in an
experimental school, believes and practises. In the following example we have given her
method in detail.

Example 2: Maya says thafl for instance, to help the children of Class 2 construct the '5
times table', she uses their hands. Each child counts how many fingers on one hand, and
then how many on 2 hands, 3 hands (including that of the child near her), and so on. In this
way she can build the table and gradually, through repeated exercises, understand and be
able to recall what 5 times 7 is. In giving the child this practice, she uses different things
of the same group size. For example, she uses toes, petals of flowers and other things that
occur in fives. Maya says that she first gets children to prepare tables of 2,5 and 10, because
children find these easy to do.

Her aim is to help each child to eventually be able to quickly recall any specific
multiplication fact. For this purpose, she also does some of the following activities with
them regularly.

1) Every day, before starting the day's topic, she sets aside a few minutes to ask the
, children 'multiplication facts'.

2) Every second or third day each child is given an assignment card, like the one below, to
be filled up.

3) Sometimes the children are asked to recite the multiples of a given number.
4) Sometimes she plays the 'postman game' with them. In this game the children are
given several cards. On one side of each card is written the first half of a
multiplication fact, like 7 x 3 or 8 x 5, and on the other side are some numbers like 20,
2 1, 35, etc. Now, one child acts as the postman. She has with her some "letters", the
addresses of which are 6 x 2, 7 x 3, .... She comes to the class and says, "7 times 3
has a letter. Who is 7 times 3?" The child who has the card 21 should come forward
and say "I arn '7 times 3 is 21'. Give me the letter." If the right child claims the letter,
she gets one point in the game. The postman shall call out "the address" of each letter
till all of them are exhausted.
r ou can now think about what we have said so far, while doing the following exercises.

) a
Supposi: child can reproduce the multiplication table mechanically. Do you assume
that she can say any multiplication fact at random? If not, what remedy do you
suggest? .
E7) Which of the following is the most crucial aspect of learning multiplication?
i) Multiplication facts
ii) Recall of tables and their recitation
iii) Understanding "how many times"
Give reasons for your answer.

E8) Evolve a game to help children remember basic multiplication facts.

In this section we have looked at ways of helping children absorb some simple
multiplication facts. But what is our ultimate aim in teaching them multiplication? To be
able to multiply any two numbers, isn't it? For this, they need to be able to apply an
algorithmic procedure, And this 'is where many children make errors. We shall now look
into some of these errors, and see how to remedy the situation.

8.5 THE MULTIPLICATION ALGORITHM

Some Class 3 children in a nearby school had been taught the standard multiplication. I

algorithm, and had even done reasonably well in the tests based on it. A year later, in Class
4, several of them made errors like:

When a child, who had made the first kind of error, was asked how she had got the answer,
she patiently told us, "9 x 3 = 27, so 7 is here (in the ones place) and carry-over 2. Then 4
+ 2 is 6 and 6 x 3 = 18, so 8 is here (in the tens place) and carry-over 1. Then 6 + 1 is 7 and
7 x 3 = 21, so the answer is 2187."

None of these children realised how absurd fheir answers were because they had not
understood what multiplication is. Clearly, their teacher's strategy didn't work. The
method he had adopted was to just feed the children the standard algorithm through a few
examples, and make them do several problems based on it, mechanically.

If this strategy doesn't work, then which one would? To evolve one, we must first look into
the processes involved in the algorithm, and why it works.

Understanding the algorithm requires an understanding of place value, multiplication

as repeated addition, carry-over and the distributive law of multiplication with
respect to addition. In Units 6 and 7 we have suggested several activities for helping a
child understand 'place value' and 'carry-over'. So, assuming that the child has done
these activities, and has also understood multiplication as repeated addition (ref.
Sections 8.2 and 8.3), let us see how we can help her realise the utility of the distributive
law.

1 The Distributive Law

If you were asked to mentally multiply 37 with 9, how would you proceed? 1would do it as
I
follows - 37 is 30 + 7, 30 x 9 = 270, 7 x 9 = 63, so 270 + 63, that is, 270 + 60 + 3, i.e., Multiplication and Divi
333 is the answer. You may do it by thiNting of 37 as 40 - 3, and then finding (40 x 9) -
(3 x 9) as the answer. Or, you may do it directly by mentally visualising the
algorithm.

1 Splitting a number up into parts helps us in efficient calculation. This way of calculating is
I possible because of the distributive law of multiplication with respect to addition /
subtraction. What it says is that, for example,
1

(30 + 7) x 9 = (30 x 9) + (7 x 9)

More generally, for any three numbers a, b and c, the law says that

( a + b) x c = ( a x c) + (b xc), and
(a- b) x c = ( a x c ) - ( b xc).

How can we help children understand this law? Maya (see Example 2) told us what she
does with the children of Class 3.

Example 2 (contd.): Maya gives the children examples of distributivity with small
numbers initially, and leads them towards discovering the law. The usual way she does this
is to give the children problems like 'An army officer has 7 rows of buttons on his uniform,
with four in each row. 4 rows are above the belt, and 3 below. What are the total number
ofbuttons?'. They usually count all the rows, and write that the total is

7 times 4 = 7(4) = 7 x 4 = 28.

Then she gets them to do it in the following way: 3 ROWS

How many rows above the belt? ...... 4 rows. 4 ROWS

So, how many buttons in all above the belt? ...... 4 times 4, i.e., 16.
How many below the belt? ,.. 3 times 4, i.e., 12. 1 //
How many in'all? ...... 16 + 12, i.e., 28.
Both the answers are the same. Why is this so? Fig.4 : (4x4)+(3~4)
, =(4+3)x4
She does a rough drawing of 7 rows of 4 buttons each (see Fig. 4), and points out to them
how the 7 rows can be broken up into 4 rows and 3 rows. She also points out that this
covers all the buttons. So

7 rows = 4 rows + 3 rows

After some of these types of examples, she gives them problems to do on their own too.
Once they have had some practice in applying the distributive law, she introduces them to
the use of distributivity for multiplying a 2-digit number by a I-digit number.

For this, she begins with giving them story problems like 'A boy sells plastic flowers packed
in sets of 5. He keeps 10 packets on his right, and 4 on his left. How many flowers does he
have in all?'. She leads them towards applying the distributive law by asking questions like
"How .many packets in all?", "How many on his right?", etc. Asking relevant questions,
she lets the children discover that
What she stresses in this process is the first step, i.e., the distributivity. With more
examples of this kind, she finds that the children slowly begin to recognise that when a
2d1git number is to be multiplied by a single digit number, it is broken up into tens and
ones, each is multiplied separately, and these products are added to get the required answer.

She also gives the children the following kind of exercises to do to practise distributivity.

Of course, this is not a one-time activity. She returns to distributivity again and again,
over a period of time, while they are learning the standard algorithm.

Now for an exercise.

E9) Give some Class 4 children around you problems like 15 x 6 to do wentally. Interact
with them to find out the different strategies they use for doing it, and note these
down.

Let us now look at possible ways of effectively communicating the algorithm to children.

8.5.2 How Does The Algorithm Work?

Most of us, when asked to multiply, say, 35 by 23, write

7 Why do we place the mark x (or 0, or leave a blank) in the second row of the
calcu~ations?

The multiplication algorithm is based on the distributive law that we were just discussing.
In this algorithm, when we multiply a single digit number by a 2- digit number the steps
are:

i) Break up the 2-digit number into the tens part and the ones part.

ii) Then multiply each of these parts by the single digit number separately.

iii) Finally, add the two products to get the answer.

For example, 13 x 7 = (10 + 3) x 7

= (10 x 7) + (3 x 7), by distributivity.
In the standard algorithm, we begin multiplication from the smallest unit of the number, Multiplication and Division
that is, the ones digit, and move leftwards. This is because we first add the smaller
sized groups, those of the size of the digit in the ones place. This result is then converted
into tens and ones. While the ones are retained at the ones place, the tens are camed
forward and added to the number obtained by multiplying the digit in the tens place of
the number by the multiplier. The entire algorithm of multi~icationis based on this
process.

For instance, in 13 x 7, we first multiply 3 by 7 to get 2 1. We retain the 1 of 2 1 in the ones

place and carry-over the 20 as 2 tens, to be added to the number obtained by multiplying the
1 ten of 13 with 7, i.e., the 2 tens are added to the 7 tens to get 9 tens.

We need to give children an adequate feel for this process. As you can see, this requires
them to understand distributivity. Further, we need to encourage the children to use this
law for multiplying numbers by breaking them up into ones and tens. We can then lead
them to the formal algorithm.

Of course, the children may not immediately understand how the algorithm works.
This understanding may require a couple of years. During this time they shduld come back
repeatedly to the working of the algorithm. They could ,also compare its working wi* other
algorithms that they learn during this period.

Why don't you try some exercises now?

E10) Why do we shift the place by one, of the result in the second row of the calculation,
when we multiply, say, 35 by 237

E l 1) Write down the algorithm for the multiplication of a 3-digit number by a 2-digit
nugber, step-by-step. Also explain how each step works.

With-this we come to the end of our discussion on multiplication. Let us summarise what
we have said so far.

What is our aim when teaching children multiplication? Firstlg they should be able
to judge which situations they need to multiply in, and the numbers that are to be
multiplied. ~econdly,'theyshould be able to do long multiplication, i.e., one multi-digit
number multiplied by another, with understanding what is involved. To enable children
to do this, the following sequence may be followed. We list all the stages from the
beginning.

1) Developing the meaning of multiplication.

a) Grouping of equal numbers of objects.
b) Adding equal groups.
c) Skip counting.
d) Practising early multiplication facts -framing multiplication tables.

2) Understanding and using the language of multiplication as well as the symbolic

method of recording multiplication facts.

3) Understanding and applying the distributive law of multiplication with respect to

addition.

4) Learning the algorithm of multiplication -recording in columns as 3

x4 -
12 -
5) Introduction to the multiplication of larger numbers - two-digit number with a one-
digit number without carry-over, e.g., 12 , and with cany-over, e.g., 13.

- -
6) Extending the algorithm to multiply a two-digit number by. a two-digit number:

i) by splitting one of them, e.g., 23 x 12 = (23 x 2) + (23 x lo),

ii) without carry-over,
iii) with carry-over.

7) Developing a deeper feel for why the algorithm works.

8) Multiplication of a threedigit number by

i) a one-digit number,
ii) a two-digit number.

Let us now consider the problems children face in learning division, and possible ways of
improving the situation.

8.6 WHAT DIVISION MEANS

Ask any primary school teacher which areas in arithmetic the children find very difficult.
Division will probably top her list. This is not surprising. lfyou interact with children who
are supposed to have 'learnt' division, you would notice that many of them are unable to
easily identify when to divide and what to divide by what when given word problems.
Also, their inability to apply the algorithm for division becomes quite evident. The reason
for these difficulties may be many. We have listed some of them below.

1) There are not enough experiences in the life of a child where she needs to divide
numbers that are not very small.

2) Division is taught to a child as a written algorithm even before she does any activitie:
involving division to undeistand its meaning.

3) In the division algorithm we move from left to right, whereas all other operations are
applied from right to left.

4) Division is not a commutative operation. (For example, 6 + 3 is not the same as 3 + 6.)

You can think of other reasons while doing the following exercise.

E12) Write down two more reasons why children consider 'division' difficult.

Regarding the first reason given above, one of fie few division related experiences that the
child perhaps does have is that of 'sharing out' objects among her friends. She may have
also noticed that 'skring' sometimes means 'sharing into equal parts', though it is not so
in many cases (for example, when someone asks you to share her food, it need not mean
that she shall give you exactly half of her fpod).

Broadly, we can make 3 categories of situations requiring division, that children would
come across. They are:

Grouping - situations in which we need to find the number of portions of a given

size which can be obtained from a givcn quantity. (e.g., if there are 50 children
in a class and they are to be broken up into groups of 5, how many groups would there
be?)
 Equal-sharing -situations in whicd we need to find out how much each portion Multiplication and Division
contains when a given quantity is shared out into a number of equal portions. (e.g., I
have 50 toffees with me and want to divide them equally among 5 children. How
many toffees does each child get? )

Ratio -situations in which we need to compare two quantities in terms of their ratio.
(e.g., if Munna weighs 40 Kg. and Munni weighs 50 Kg., find the ratio of their
weights.)

Children upto the age of 10 would usually come across the first two models. The third
model is the inverse of the 'scale' model of multiplication, and is more dficult for the
usuaI 10-yeardld to grasp.

To understand what division is, children need to be given plenty of examples of the first two
types of situations in different contexts, all of which are familiar to them. This is what my
Fig. 5 :EquaCsharing.
nephew's mathematics teacher did. as you will read in the following example.

Example 3: My'nephew had been introduced to division by his teacher Ms. Santosh, in
Class 3. He, and several of his friends who had been taught by her, appeared to be quite
comfortable with the concept and process of division when I discussed it with them. This
discussion was held about the time my nephew joined Class 5. Since the teacher's method
seemed to be effective, I decided to find out the details from her.

When I contacted Ms. Saltosh about this, she was more than willing to share her teaching
strategy with us. According to her, it is important to introduce children to division through
simple concrete activities. For instance, she asks them to put 30 seeds / leaves / pebbles
in groups of 3, and count the number of groups. Then asks them, "How many 3's in
301"

Another activity that she does with them is to divide them into groups of 5, and give each
group 20 things (some can be given marbles, others pebbles, etc.). Then she asks one
person in the group to divide the objects among all the children in the group. The child
counts out 5 marbles, and gives one each to the children. Santosh then asks questions like
'How many sets of five can she take?' and 'How many marbles does each child get?'.

Since the division process is not very well understood, Santosh feels that it is necessary to
do many activities of the kind suggested above with children. This should be done in many
different contexts, with different objects.

While doing the activities, she keeps conversing with the children and using terms like
share, divide by, divide into, how many times, how many are there in, how many groups,
split up into equal parts, between, among, etc. She also gives the children several stories
involving each of these terms. At a later stage, she encourages the children to create stories
involving division.

Once Santosh feels that a child is able to divide up sets of objects, she begins the process of
helping her acquire the meaning of the operation. For this, she tries to help the child
recognise division as the reverse process of multiplication through activities l i k ~the
following:
She asks her to divide up a set of 10 matchsticks into sets of 2 each, and asks her how many
there are. Next, she asks her to take the 5 sets of 2 matchsticks each and tell her how many
in all. She does this kind of activity Gith LO stones, 10 twigs, ..., till the child begins to see
the relationship between '10 divided by 2 is 5' and '2 times 5 is 10'.

Gradually, through such activities, and with practice, when children are asked to find '6
divided by 2', they try and answer 'how many times does 2 go into 6?'. To answer this,
they recite the table of 2 till they get to 6, and therefore, '6 divided by 2 is 3'. Some of them
initially answer this by resorting to 'repeated subtraction', that is, for them '6 divided by 2'
'
has the meaning 'how many times can 2 be repeatedly subtracted from 6?', that is,
 +1
6

-2 3 times

-2
- _I
- 0

Once children have understood what division means in the context of simple situations,
Santosh introduces them to the symbol +. Then, to farniliarise them with the symbol, and
with the relationship between ' x ' and ' i', she gives them various activities. For instance,

m,
she divides them up into small groups and gives each group a set of cards like

-
Fl asking them to write out a division fact.
She then exchanges,a for m a n d asks them if they can shuffle the cards around to make
another statement. (Several versions of this activity are possible.)
She also gives children worksheets to make them practise division / multiplication facts.
By assessing the children over a period of time, Santosh finds that this way of learning
division ultimately leads them to interpret, say 24 93 = 8, in the following ways:
a If a collection of 24 objects is equally shared among 3 groups, each group will have 8
objects in it.
a If a collection of 24 objects is divided up into groups of 3 objects each, the result is 8
groups.
a From 24, 3 can be repeatedly subtracted 8 times.
a 8 threes are 24.
a 3 eights are 24.
a 3 goes 8 times into 24.

One important pt'rt that Santosh made, while talking to me, was that the way she exposes
children to division does not require them to know multiplication thoroughly before
starting division. Some familiarity with multiplication is enough for them to initially see
the relationship between the twa operations. And, the children continue learning both
operations side by side.

You may like to try some exercises now. ,

E13) Do you agree that multiplication and division should be learnt intermeshed with
each other, or not? Give reasons for your answer. li

E14) How would you explain to children why division by zero is meaningless?
- - -

So far we have considered ways of communicating the concept of division to children.

While doing so, we have only used problems in which' no remainder is left. Such problems
help them to visualise division and multiplication as reverse processes. Once children
understand this, they could be introduced to problems involving a positive remainder, like
24 5.
Children have quite a bit of difficulty with concepts and'terminology related to division, ' .
like quotient and remainder. When given problems like 'what is the remainder left when
27 is divided by 6?', they often get confused and say 4.
A good way to remedy this situation is to familiarise children with these concepts in
concrete ,contexts,to start with. For instance, if a child is exposed to many exercises with
concrete materials that involve a remainder, she would gradually begin to understand the Multiplication and Division
concept. This understanding could be reinforced by giving her examples fram day-to-day
situations involving division w i p aremainder (e.g., Moti brought 7 pencils. He distributed
them equally among 3 children. How many remained with him?), as well as division
without a remainder. While getting the children to articulate their solutions, you could also
stress the words 'qdotient' and 'remainder'. Many such examples should be presented to
the children.

Simultaneously, the children should be asked to create situations and contexts involving
division with a remainder. These situations could be created in small groups and presented
to each other in the group, and 1 or posed as challenges to the other groups.

Slowly the s i ~ of
e the numbers involved in the problems presented by you may be increased.
For example, at the next level you could ask, "There are 26 marbles and 7 children have
to play with them, If each child gets the same number of marbles, how many would each
child get and %owmany would be left over?"

If the children cannot answer when the numbers become larger, you can present them
the problem as an activity with concrete things. You could collect the required number of
marbles, or some other easily available small objects. Ask children how they would proceed
to find the quotient and the remainder.

This activity can be repeated with different numbers as well as in different lunds of
contexts. You can think of various possibilities while doing the following exercise.

E15) What other activities can you suggest to help a child understand the terms 'quotient'
and 'remainder'?

Once children understand the concept and process of division, with enough practice they
w ~ u l dgradually be able to divide easily when only small numbers are involved. But, to
divide large numbers, they would need to use the algorithm for division. This is a major
area of difficulty for children. In the nefi section, we will look at why this is so.

8.7 ALGORITHM FOR DIVISION

If you ask a 10 or 11-year-old child to solve, say, 81 + 9, the chances are that she will
correctly do it. But if you ask her to solve, say 72 + 3, there is a strong possibility that she
will get it wrong. This is because, in this case she has to resort to an algorithm which she
has blindly followed, without understanding what is going on or why it works.

When we met some children of Class 5 in a nearby primary school and gave them division
problems to do, many of them came up with errors like

Why did we get such solutions? This is because the children have not u n & r s t d how and
why the algorithm works. In fact, most adults don't understand this either. For instance,
how many of us know why we move from left to right while dividing, and move fiom right
to left while applying the other operations?, Let us consider this 'peculiarity'.

The reason we start division by considering the digit in the leftmost place is efficiency and
ease. For instance, suppose we divide 417 by 3, we first divide the 4 hundreds.by 3 to get 1
 hundred in the quotient, with a remainder of 1 hundred. This remainder can then be
converted into tens, to get 10 tens. We also have 1 ten from before. So now we divide the
11 tens by 3, to get 3 tens in the quotient with 2 remaining. This remainder is then
coilverted into 20 ones. So we have a total of 27 ones. Dividing this by 3 we get 9 ones in
the quotient and no remainder. So, the answer is 139.

Now, lets try dividing from the ones first and see what happens. We would first divide 7
by 3 to get 2 ones in the quotient, and 1 one remaining. Next, we would consider the 1 ten
To divide this, we would need to convert it into 10 ones. Also we had 1 one remaining
from before. So we diiide the 11 ones by 3 to get 3 ones in the quotient, and 2 ones
remaining. Now go to the 4 in the hundreds place. Dividing this by 3 we get 1 hundred in
the quotient, and 1 hundred remaining, that is, 10 tens remains. Dividing this by 3 we get
3 tens, and 1 ten remaining. We already have 2 ones remaining, don't forget! So, now we
have (10+2) ones remaining. Gividing this by 3 we get 4 ones. So, in this back and forth
way, we have done the division to get the same answer, of course, but in double the time,
and with having to keep tiack of several quotients.

How does a child construct for herself the understanding of the step-by-step process? How
elp her to see how and why the algorithm works? Let us consider what Zarina has

4: Zarina has been teaching upper primary school children for some time.
trial-and-error she has come to the conclusion that the best way for
the algorithm to children is through activities with concrete objects.

i
She ask the children to divide using bundles of sticks and some open sticks. Each bundle
has ten ticks. First she asks them to do, say 9 -+ 3, which they usually manage easily.
Then she moves to, say 12 + 3, using one bundle and 2 sticks. She tells the child, "If you
want to $hare this among 3 children, where would you begin?" The child, of course, tends
bundle, and share out the 12 sticks. And, she gets 4 sticks per person.
the activity Zarina makes her speak out whatever she is doing, and write it
way the child practises the language and the use of symbols.

I
Then Za 'na moves to problems like 30 + 3, where the child realises that the 3 bundles as
a whole an be distributed without opening them up. She follows this up with problems like
36 + 3, where the bundles can be divided by 3, with no remainder, and so can the sticks.
In each of these she gets them to write down the division as follows:

1 bundle + 2 sticks
1/ 3 bundles + 6 sticks
3 bundles
0 bundles + 6 sticks
6 sticks
X

So the answer is 1 bundle + 2 sticks = 12 sticks

She reminds then1 of the relationship between bundleslsticks and tenslones. So, for
instance, 84 + 4 can be done as

2 tens + 1 one
C/ ~g :;em; + 4 ones

0 tens + 4 ones
4 ones
X

After some practice with such problems, they go back to using bundles and sticks for
,olving problems like 84 + 3, where a rerr.ainder-isleft &en the 'tens' digit is divided:
64
 The child first distributes the bundles into 3 groups, each group having 2 bundles. That Multiplication and Division
would leave her with 2 bundles. She now opens these bundles, and has 20 sticks. Adding
the 4 sticks she had earlier, she now has 24 sticks. She divides these sticks into 3 groups,
. each group having 8 sticks. At the end, therefore, each group has 2 bundles and 8 sticks,
i.e., 2 tens a1.d 8 ones, i.e., 28. This is also written down in the same way as the earlier
solutions.

With enough practice the children gradually move towards applying the algorithm without
taking recourse to concrete materiais. Of course, if they are uncertain about what to do at
any stage, they can always go back to using the bundles and sticks.

Once the children are sure of the algorithm with numbers that leave no remainder, Zarina
gives them problems like 35 + 3. Here she again asks them to use bundles and sti~ks.
While doing the activity with them, she uses the term 'remainder' again and again, relating
it to 'how many remain which cannot be divided'. At the same time, as before, she gets
them to write the solution down step-by-step.

Why don't you think of someactivities for the same purpose now?

E16) Suggest, in detail, another activity for helping a child grasp the algorithm for
division.

We come to the end of our discussion on the arithmetic operations now. In it we have tried
to make the point that in the whole process of teaching / learning our emphasis should be
to allow children to discover the meaning of the concept, the operation, the problem and
its solution. The children should also be able to connect what they learn with practical
situations involving the concept learnt.

Let us now revise what we have discussed in this unit.

8.8 SUMMARY
In this unit we have ' .
'I

1) suggested ways of conveying the meaning of multiplication and division to children.

These operations have to be taught as an activity first, in concrete contexts.

2) discussed ways of helping children acquire the ability to use related terminology.

3) listed the different types of situations in which children would use multiplication and
division.

4) emphasised that the algorithms for these operations need to be introducyd with a lot of
activities.

Throughout this unit we have discussed many child-centred, activity-oriented approaches

for teaching multiplication and division. We hope this discussion encourages you to evolve
more such activities and try them out with children.

8.9 COMMENTS ON EXERCISES

E l ) You may create some imaginary story of your own. Also let children make some
stories.

E2) Divide children into groups. Give each group a well-shuflled pack of cards numbered 65
 from 1 to 50, and a number. The group has to identify all the cards in the pack which
will be got when they skip count by the given number. Thus, one group would skip
count by 5, say. The other group would identify the numbers obtained by skip
'counting by 7, and so on. Once this is done, each group could present their outcome
to all the children.

E3) Erect a stick or splinter upright on a heap of sand. Mark a circle at a point 10 metres
away from this. Each child has to stand in the circle and throw a ball at the upright
stick. If her ball hits the stick, 'she gains 5 points. Each child gets 10 chances, at the
end of which she has to say how many times she could hit the stick and how many
points she has gained in all.

The game given above may be changed a bit as follows. Instead of one stick, erect 10
sticks as shown in Fig.6, and instead of the ball, use a stick. Each child is given only
one chance. She is given 5 points for each stick she could hit at a time. Let each one
find the points she has got. ~ j a n encourage
d them to do this by skip counting.

Fig.6: A skip counting activity.

You can also dig a small pit (2crn. deep) in the ground. Let each chidstand 3
metres away from the hole and try to roll a marble into the pit. If the marble falls
in, the child gets 5 points. Each one is given 10 chances.

E4) Make the examples as different as possible from each other as well as from the
examples we have given.

E5) In a study done by Brown iri 1981, out of 66 British 11-year- olds who were asked to
give a story for 9 x 3,23 used the 'rate' model, 5 used the :scale' model, and the rest
couldn't do it. Are your results similar? Or did somePchildren use the other models
(like array) also? Did the 7-year-olds use only the 'rate' model?

E6) The child must be able to reproduce the table in any order and at random. Ask her
any fact from the table at random. If she can answer correctly, she probably knows
the table. If she can't at all say multiplication facts at random, she needs to pra&
adding equally sized groups and skip counting.

Activities in which children have to quickly answer questions posed by other

children or the teacher can also be thought of. These may be begun after a lot of
repeated practice of adding varying quantities of equally sized groups, and varying
the sizes too.

E7) The most important is the third one, of course. Without that the other two are
e useless.

E8) Various activities can be organised so as to make the child practise multiplication
facts. Children could form two groups, and each group could ask the other
, questions like: What is 4 times 3? 5 two's are what? What is 5 three's?, etc. F W
cards and self-corrective cards may be used for this (See Fig.7).
66
 Multiplication and Division

(8) @)
Fig.? (a) the front of, @) the reverse of a self-corrective card.

E9) You may find this exercise interesting enough to build your project around it (see
your Project Guide).

I E10) Are we multiplying 35 by 2, or by 20, in the second step?

E l 1) Write down the algorithm that you use. Explain *hy the algorithm demands a
certain way of working, i.e., starting from the left, putting a cross (X) in the second
line and two crosses (XX) in the fhird line of the parts that would add up to give us
the product.

One reason is that: while applying the algorithm, the child may have to consider
digits of more than one place at a time, something she has not done in the other
operations. (For example, when dividing 225 by 5, she will need to consider the two
leftmost digits at a time.)
You can add to the list.

Since multiplication and division are inverses of each other, learning them side by
side would help build the understanding of both. There is no need to learn and
completely master multiplication first, and then begin division.

You can show this by using repeated subtraction. For example, to get 6 + 0, you
need to see how many times you subtract 0 from 6 till you reach 0. But, this never
happens, however many times you do it.

E15) Based on what you have studied in the course so far, you can think of several indoor
or outdoor games, or other tasks that they would like. What is important is that
throughout the activity, you need to observe what they are doing. Talk to them and
get them to articulate their understanding of the concepts and process of division. It
is important for children to talk about and listen to many contexts in wh'ich the
4-
various terms are used and try and construct their own situations in which they
place these terms.

You could also devise a couple of story situations which would help children grasp
the descriptionsldefinitionsof these terms. For example, 'Groups of 5 children have
to be formed for a game. There are 38 children in the class. How many groups
would be formed and how many children would remain to be grouped with other
classes?'.

E16) An effective learning aid to teach division of a 2 - d i ~ or

t 3-digit number by a ldigit
'
number can be by making cards of different colours that are worth Rs. 100, Rs..10
and Re. 1, respectively. The child can be given some ten-rupee and one-rupee cards,
and asked to distribute them equally into a given number of portions, The following
kind of situations may arise:
 1) The tens (i.e., the 10-rupee cards) and the ones (i.e., the 1-rupee cards) are
separately divisible by the number of parts, e.g., 86 + 2, 93 + 3, etc.

2) The tens leave a remainder, but on the whole, there is no remainder. In this
case the remaining tens have to be converted into ones, added to the ones
already there, and distributed, e.g., 56 + 2,72 + 3, etc. In each of these
examples, one ten remains at the first step. However, after adding it to the
ones and dividing, there is no remainder.

3) On dividing, a remainder is left, e.g., 35 -+ 3, etc.

The child can gradually move on to working with cards of hundreds, tens and ones,
dividing them in a similar manner.