Counting Helps You Multiply!

It's true! You know that 1 hour is 60 minutes, and 1 minute is 60 seconds; how many seconds is 1 hour? The answer is 3,600! That's 60 × 60 or 60^2.(60 squared)

A car has 4 wheels, so 25 cars have 100 wheels. A spider has 8 legs, so 16 spiders have 128 legs. A quarter is 25 cents, so 100 quarters is 25 dollars!

Can't see Olivia? Maybe you need to adjust your Web browser.

How do you find this out?

Simple! Count, then multiply.


Calculation #1:

4 × 25 = 100

Number of cars:25

Number of wheels:100

Number of wheels per car:4


Calculation #2:

8 × 16 = 128

Number of spiders:16

Number of legs:128

Number of legs per spider:8


Calculation #3:

0.25 × 100 = 25

Number of quarters:100

Number of dollars:25

Number of dollars per quarter:0.25

(0.25 is not whole, but at least it's a number, right? 0.25 dollars = 25 cents. Hopefully, you understand!)

"Here's a joke! You can make a half dollar by cutting a dollar bill in half!"


Two more examples!

Olivia is a spider, so she has 8 feet.(You seen her at the top of this Web page.) Although she's not a human, she has 5 toes on each foot. Therefore, she has 40 toes in all! If there were 13 of her, there would be 520 toes in all! And there would also be 104 feet!

Calculation #4:

8 × 5 × 13 = 520

Number of Olivias:13

Number of feet:104 (which is 8 × 13)

Number of feet per Olivia:8

Number of toes per foot:5

Number of toes per Olivia:40 (which is 8 × 5)

Number of toes:520 (which is 40 × 13)

(By the way, 13 × 5 = 65, but that number isn't so important in this calculation.)

Brain is hovering here; if you can't see him, then please fix your Web browser.


Last example!

A fairy has 2 wings, 2 arms, and 2 legs, so that makes 6 limbs. Like humans, they have 5 toes on each foot.(And 5 fingers on each hand.)So if there were 5 of them, there would be 10 wings, 10 arms, and 10 legs, with a total of 30 limbs. Plus, there would be 50 toes(and 50 fingers) in all! This time, you get to count!

The 5 Fantastical Fairies take off their shoes to show you their toes. You can't count what you can't see! Please adjust your Web browser.


If you would like to see any of the calculations again, or the fairy comic, you can click any of the numbered hyperlinks:

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Hope you enjoyed viewing this page!

© Derek Cumberbatch