Doesn doing finger multiplication take a long time to do?
The average length of time for a child to calculate a problem such as 7 X 8 using this method is around 10-15 seconds. The longest time would be around 30 seconds, the shortest time is around 5-10 seconds. So, that kind of time frame may be OK for some situations, and not OK for others. In almost all cases, the child comes up with the RIGHT answer, PROVIDED they have learned the method. And, like a lot of things, they tend to improve with practice. I do know that where some children haven’t been able to learn multiplication the traditional way, that ANY way they CAN learn it is a vast improvement. It’s worth the extra 20-30 seconds if a kid gets a boost in confidence from knowing that they are doing math that A) makes sense to them and B) gets them the correct answer to a problem.
