imagine that, problem solving techniques rather than memorization!!!

Memorization has value. A better way to memorize things is through purposeful repetition. Instead of flipping through flash cards, solve ALOT of problems over and over so that you commit the solutions to memory. Part of how you'll do it is by recognizing those patterns that emerge.

you learn tricks like multiplying by ten means just adding a zero to the end.

multiplying by 5 is the same as dividing by two and then multiplying by ten.

multiplying numbers near 100 each? start with 100x100 and adjust from there.

I was lying in my hospital bed after coming out of the coma I was in for four days. What I did was to try to assess any deficits I had suffered due to the illness. I quickly realized that I had lost the ability to multiply single digit numbers. The multiplication table was gone in my brain. WTF? I thought.

I could still add numbers together OK, though. So, I spend the next few hours rebuilding the multiplication tables, starting with 2 times 2. I added 2 and 2. And so on, right up through the 12s. By the end of the day, I was back to normal with multiplication. I had put that table back together in some part of my brain that wasn't damaged by the illness.

That was the only deficit I found. I explained what I had done to the neurologist who visited. He just shook his head and said, "Well, it looks like you'll be just fine, then."

grades, anyway.)

Had a friend with an 8 year old that was "struggling" with "math". They were just into multiplication and he couldn't figure out why. I asked to see some of the homework. It was odd because the kid got alot of them right, but occasionally would get one wrong, and not in any real obvious way. He'd get 3 x 7 but later would miss 7 x 3, strange stuff like that. I asked the kid about it and he said he could remember 3 x 7 but couldn't remember 7 x 3. About then I got suspicious. He kept referring to remembering his "times tables".

I asked him if he knew why we said "times", as in 3 times 7. He didn't know. So I explained that multiplication, ALL multiplication was merely repetitive addition. 3 times 7 merely meant "add 7 + 7 + 7", ie add 7 three "times". You'd thought I had just explained general relativity. "Oh, I can do THAT. Why do they make it so complicated". About then I explained that it made multiplying really large numbers much easier. Yeah, you can add 7 "three times", but now add 24, 231 times. Could take you a while. Multiplication makes it faster and easier.

He got that. It now "made sense". I did explain to him that he could now "check" his answers, even when taking a test. Next time he was asked to solve a multiplication problem, write down the answer, and then "check" it by doing the addition if he was unsure. I had to chuckle when he asked me if that was okay or if that was cheating.

I've helped alot of people over the years with various parts of math. I've never really found anyone that was "bad" at math. There will always be people who are "better" at it. But if I get a willing student and just a small bit of time, I can usually find whatever stumbling block is confusing them. 9 times out of 10 they've found someway to make something simple, very complicated.

Just confuse the shit out of the kids.