This week our year 6 Mental Arithmetic questions concentrate on multiplying and dividing numbers. The first two questions are quite straightforward division eg share 72 by 9. There is a considerable body of opinion that as well as knowing tables (eg 8 x 9 = 72) children should also know the division facts off by heart (eg 72 divided by 9 is 8). knowing these facts would certainly increase the speed of calculating mentally. Multiplying a teen number by 5 can be done in several ways. For example 18 x 5 can be done by : 1. multiplying10 by 5 (50) then 8 by 5 (40) and adding the answers 2. multiplying 8 by 5 (40) then 10 by 5 (50) and adding the answers 3. multiplying 18 by 10 (180) and halving the answer Similarly there are several methods for multiplying a teen number by 4, For example 15 x 4 can be done by: 1. multiply 10 by 4 (40) then 5 by 4 (20) and adding the answers 2. multiplying 5 by 4 (20) then 10 by 4 (40) and adding the answers 3. Doubling 15 (30) then doubling again (60). There are also a couple of tricky dividing questions this week, which will test children's understanding of fractions and decimals. Don't forget that we are also publishing sets of mental arithmetic questions for both Year 4 and Year 5.