Perhaps the major handicap students suffer in their study of mathematics throughout elementary and highschool is a lack of fluency with simple multiplication facts found in what are commonly called 'multiplication tables'.
Students have difficulty learning the 'multiplication tables' primarily because they have no understanding of what the tables represent. Multiplication tables appear as random lists of numbers which are difficult to remember, in much the same way as we all find telephone numbers difficult to remember, unless we use them regularly.
This book addresses these problems by explaining the concept of multiplication and by encouraging the student to use their understanding of multiplication to build a Multiplication Chart. Because the student builds the chart, the multiplication facts recorded in the chart have meaning; the student knows where the numbers in the chart come from and what they represent. It is expected that the student will use the chart until he or she no longer needs it. In this way multiplication facts are learned as they are used and the student is always learning from successes.
Complete solutions are provided to all of the problems in the Exercises, rather than just the answers. These solutions serve to provide a constant reminder that a good solution should identify the problem and information related to the problem and demonstrate the process used to solve it.