The trick looks impressive, so be prepared for jaw-drops when you show this to kids and adults. But can you figure out how it works? I’ll give you a hint: think about how to represent placeholders of powers of 10…


Ok, so now watch the video:
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6 Responses to “Graphical Multiplication”

  1. Yes, you’ve hit on the limitation of this method. It does get cumbersome with large numbers, and zero isn’t able to be represented by a line. This is a fun experiment to share with kids learning math that need a visual to help them grasp the meaning of numbers.

  2. They are multiplying numbers using lines as a decimal placeholder instead of numbers. Cool, isn’t it?

  3. Hmmm… that’s not something I have an experiment for… I think you’re on your own!

  4. Julie Polanco says:

    ok so seriously WHAT R THEY DOING???????

  5. Julie Polanco says:

    oh, hi aurora? u got any ideas on how i can make my own love tester….u know to see if people like me…another person or watevr? plz!!!!!

  6. Fatima Shariff says:

    I love the way the multiplication is presented visually, I was just wondering how a number with a zero digit would be represented on the diagram? I also felt it was easier to multiply numbers with lower digits, once you get to digits above 5 it gets a bit tricky. I was also wondering about the history of this method, is it a method that was used in ancient times and is it a method that is still in use today?