skip counting

Last night, I helped my youngest sister, Lui, study math. She's only in the first grade but she is now learning how to multiply. I gave her number problems and she went, "Ay yan lang! Easy lang yan!". Ang yabang. To my surprise she didn't went through the 'x sets of y sticks then add the sticks' formula. Instead, she stared at me and then started writing down the answers, staring at me after each number problem before writing down. I thought she memorized the multiplication table. You see, this is what 3rd graders during my years would do. Even when I transferred to a public school in 6th grade, the multiplication table is still popular. I remember our math teacher used to call us one by one to recite the multiplication table infront of the class. Hehehe! I did well, you know. I had a notebook with the multiplication table printed on its back cover, in red! The visual person that I am, it was easy for me to recall the table details. Wicked me.

I wanted to test Lui's memory. So I gave her 2-digit and 3-digit problems. Same thing. She stares, writes down answers afterwards. Now this time, I was really really surprised. I asked her who taught her multiplication. "Wala lang. Ako lang". Aba, mayabang nga! Then she filled me with the details. "Ate, skip counting lang. Sabi ni teacher ganito lang daw gawin...".

Skip counting. I learned this in 1st grade but I never used it in answering multiplication problems. Up until now, I do multiplication by memory (or by heart!, since I memorize the table by heart). But it never occurred to me that its as simple as skip counting. Poor me. Looks like old (errr.. not so old) dogs can still learn new tricks.

Skip counting. Take note.