Let’s Learn!
How do we use multiplication strategies to solve real-world problems?
Goal:
Goal:
Think About It!
Goal: Identify the steps to solve a multiplication word problem.
Let’s read about the cats at the rescue center!
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 9 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?
This is a word problem. It tells a story with math and words! The word problem has important numbers, a key word that tells us what to do, and a question. The key word will tell us to multiply. Here are some of the key words that you will see in a multiplication word problem:
Multiplication Key Words |
||
|---|---|---|
| each | by | of |
| per | in all | total |
Our equation is 3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?, because there are 3 groups of 9 cats. Let’s go through the problem-solving steps to see how to find the total number of cats. Click each step to see how to solve the word problem!
Read the problem
Read the problem again.
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 9 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
Read it one more time!
Look for important information
Look through the problem for the important numbers. We will highlight them. Then look for the key words and the question. We will circle the key words. We will underline the question. Click Show Me to see!
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 9 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 3 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
3 and 9 are the important numbers.
The words “of” and “total” tell us to multiply. The question is the last sentence in the problem.
Write a math sentence
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 3 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?
We have the multiplication sentence, 3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?, to solve the problem. The important numbers are the factors. Factors are the numbers we multiply to get a product.
We need to find the number of groups and the number in each group.
3 is the number of groups, or rooms. The number of groups is first in the problem. 9 is the number in each group, or the number of cats in each room. The number in each group is usually in the same sentence as the first key word.
Choose a way to solve
Here are some multiplication strategies we can use to find a product!
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?
They are like tools in a toolbox. You get to pick the one that works for you! We will focus on using a multiplication picture or an array. Let’s use an array here. Click Show Me to see!
There are 3 groups of 9. We need an array that has 3 rows with 9 columns and 9 triangles in each row.
Solve and label your answer
We used an array to show 3 times 9.
The third grade students helped 3 rooms of 3 cats. How many cats did they help in total?
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = ?
What is the product? Add 3 groups of 9. The product goes where the ? is. Click Show Me to see!
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = 27 cats
Let’s add one more step:
Check your work
Checking your work means checking that your answer is correct! There are many ways to check your work. One way is using a multiplication chart. A multiplication chart is a table that shows the product of two numbers. The two numbers are the factors.
The first factor is found in the red column at the left of the chart. The second factor is found in the yellow row along the top of the chart. You can use your fingers or draw lines from each number to see where they meet. That is where the product is!
We can use the multiplication chart to check our work. Is 27 the correct product?
3 \({ \times }\) 9 = 27
The first factor is in the first column. 3 is the first factor. The second factor is in the first row. 9 is the second factor. Use your fingers or draw lines to show where the 3 and 9 meet. Click Show Me to see!
3 and 9 meet at 27. Our answer is correct!
We can solve multiplication word problems with the steps and strategies we learned.