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Comment by smolder | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, I'm really confused how someone could see multiplication tables as useless. I'm not sure how anyone could become adept at multiplying without memorizing the relationships between common numbers. Are there grown people out there who add up 8 8's when they need to solve 8*8?

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There are grown people who plug 8*8 into their phones

"You will need to learn this because you won't always have a calculator with you"

Turns out, you do always have a calculator with you.

A calculator, for me, really doesn't replace the utility of being able to do some basic mathematics in my head. Even if you don't run into a lot of uses for mental math, I'm in the camp that thinks learning 1-10*1-10 and building a sense for numbers will aid in understanding of other concepts and in developing other cognitive abilities. Some carefully designed experiments could convince me otherwise.

It's not about having a calculator. It's about making quick connections when encountering new facts or numbers. Without sizeable core of memorized facts, results and numbers you will miss a lot of those. It's the very definition of being not that smart.

Being able to easily calculate e.g. $/100g to a rough degree without reaching for your pocket is super handy.

I think we could gain from emphasizing math with orders of magnitude, and knowing 1/n's would be super handy too.

I often leave my phone at home to clear my mind and get away from things. I try to be phone free for about 4 hours a day. And during this time I almost always go out. And often I use my multiplication table during this time.

EXACTLY!

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