🧮 Multiplication as Equal Groups — Understanding Groups Of
Dive into the Open Ocean with Captain Coral!
Read the Passage First!
🔤 Words to Know
Multiplication — A quick way to add equal groups. 3 groups of 4 is 3 x 4 = 12.
Product — The answer when you multiply two numbers.
Equal groups — Groups that all have the same number of items.
Captain Coral and Wanda were swimming through the deep channel when they spotted groups of dolphins. Each group had exactly 4 dolphins, and there were 3 groups.
"How many dolphins altogether?" asked Wanda.
"I could add: 4 + 4 + 4 = 12," said Captain Coral. "But there is a faster way! Multiplication! 3 groups of 4 is written as 3 x 4 = 12."
"The first number tells you HOW MANY groups. The second number tells you HOW MANY in each group," explained Wanda. "The answer is called the product."
Captain Coral looked around and found more examples: "I see 5 groups of 2 sea turtles. That is 5 x 2 = 10 sea turtles!"
"And there are 2 groups of 6 rays! 2 x 6 = 12 rays!" added Wanda.
"Multiplication is just a shortcut for repeated addition," said Captain Coral. "Instead of adding 4 + 4 + 4, I can say 3 times 4!"
"Exactly," said Wanda. "And the x symbol means TIMES, or groups of. When you see 3 x 4, think: 3 groups of 4."
🧠 Answer the Questions
Read carefully. Pick the best answer!
What is multiplication?
How many dolphins were in each group?
What is the product?
3 x 4 = ?
5 x 2 = ?
2 x 6 = ?
In 3 x 4, what does the 3 tell you?
What does the x symbol mean?
What is another way to write 4 x 3?
How many sea turtles did Bob count?
What are equal groups?
4 x 5 = ?
How many rays did they see?