So you have 81 different facts, but the actual memory work isn’t as much as you might think.
First of all, about half of the facts are inverses of each other, so if you know 7 x 4, you know 4 x 7. If you know 9 x 3, you know 3 x 9, and so on. The only ones that don’t invert are the perfect squares, which involve the same number, like 6 x 6, 3 x 3, 9 x 9, etc. This cuts down your memorization from 81 to 45 unique facts.
0 times anything is 0, so if you see a 0, the answer is automatically 0.
The first 9 facts are very easy - anything times 1 is itself (and 1 times anything is itself). 5 x 1 = 5. 1 x 7 = 7. 8675309 x 1 = 8675309.
The 2s aren’t too hard either. Assuming you can add the same number to itself (2 times a number is twice that number), these shouldn’t be too hard. 2 x 7 is just twice 7, so 7 + 7, or 14. 8 x 2 is twice 8, so it’s 16.
If you can read a clock face, the 5s should be no problem. If the minute hand is pointing at the 6, it’s 30, or if it’s at the 2, it’s 10. 5 x 2 = 10, 6 x 5 = 30, 5 x 8 = 40, etc.
The 9s are some of the most fun. Here’s a trick. Hold out your hands. 9 x 6. Bend down your 6th finger. There are 5 fingers to the left and 4 to the right, so it’s 54. 3 x 9. Bend down your 3rd finger. There are 2 to the left and 7 to the right, so 27.
With that, we’ve knocked out more than half of the table!
From here, I’d advise you to memorize the perfect squares and know what one number multiplied by itself is.
1 x 1 = 1
2 x 2 = 4
3 x 3 = 9
4 x 4 = 16
5 x 5 = 25
6 x 6 = 36
7 x 7 = 49
8 x 8 = 64
9 x 9 = 81
The low 3s and 4s aren’t too much of a problem, and here, you just need to know 3 x 4 = 12 (one-two equals three times four), in addition to the two squares next to it (3 x 3, 4 x 4)
The remaining twelve facts tend to be the most difficult to memorize, so pay special attention to them (as well as their inverses). The first six involve 3 and 4, and are usually considered to be the easier part of this group.
3 x 6 = 18
3 x 7 = 21
3 x 8 = 24
4 x 6 = 24
4 x 7 = 28
4 x 8 = 32
The second part are the ones that involve the larger numbers 6, 7, and 8. These tend to be the most difficult to memorize. Of all of the 81 facts, these are the most common ones to get wrong.
6 x 6 = 36 (a square)
6 x 7 = 42
6 x 8 = 48
7 x 7 = 49 (a square)
7 x 8 = 56 (this is the one that is THE most commonly missed. I have a little jingle to help me with this one. Five, six, seven, eight. Fifty-six equals seven times eight.)
8 x 8 = 64 (a square)
And with that, the entire table is done. It’s not as bad as you think, right?t