Unit 2

Introduction

Mathematical Background
This unit takes an applied and visual approach to multi-digit multiplication and early division
with remainders. Students deepen their understandings of multiplication and division, solve and
pose a wide variety of story problems, and apply number sense to developing useful models and
mental strategies for multiplying and dividing with an increasing degree of efficiency.

Concepts
In the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, 2000, the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics points out that while additive reasoning develops in the primary grades,
multiplicative reasoning should become a central focus in grades 35. This is strongly supported
in the design and intent of the Common Core State Standards for third, fourth, and fifth grade.
Most upper elementary grade teachers will tell you, however, that the development of such
reasoning is a long journey; it is no small task to move intermediate students from additive to
multiplicative thinking. Even those students who are fluent with most of their basic multiplication facts may not fully understand the operation itself, as evidenced in their difficulty posing
and solving story problems to match such expressions as 58 or 255.
When students move beyond the basic facts into the realm of multi-digit multiplication and division,
the difficulties tend to multiply. A common misconception among fourth graders is that to multiply
427, you go 47 and 42. Depending on how they handle the fact that 47=28, their answers
may range all the way from 88 to 828. Whats missing is the fundamental insight that when you multiply 427, you are actually multiplying 47 and 420. Once students understand this clearly, they
can use any number of efficient algorithms or multi-step procedures to produce the correct answer.
Until then, they are more likely to use some form of skip-counting or repeated addition instead of
attempting to multiply, because they can rely on these additive methods to produce the right answer.
What do our students need to develop multiplicative reasoning? Here are some of the most
important prerequisites:

Multiplicative
reasoning is more
than just doing
multiplication or
division. It is about
understanding
situations in which
multiplication
or division is
an appropriate
operation.
NCTM, 2000

Deep understanding of the operations of multiplication and division and how they relate to
one another, as well as proficiency with basic multiplication and division facts.
Experience using estimation to decide whether a solution is reasonable.
Solid place value understandings. (To comprehend that 4270 is actually 4200 plus 470, you
have to know that 270 is 2 hundreds, 7 tens, and 0 ones. Furthermore, to apply ones knowledge of
35 to a larger problem such as 3050, you have to understand that 30 and 50 are 10 times the
size of 3 and 5 and that as a result, their product is 100 times the size of the product of 35.)
Experience with geometric models, such as the rectangular array (area model).
Many opportunities to solve problems that involve multi-digit multiplication and division, as
well as opportunities to generate and share a variety of strategies for doing so.
An understanding of and ability to apply properties of operations. The associative property,
for example, plays an important role in helping students multiply by multiples of 10. To solve
830, for example, students come to understand that this combination can be expressed as
8(310). Using the associative property, 8(310) can be thought of as (83)10, or
2410, which many fourth graders can solve mentally. The distributive property also plays an
important role in both understanding and computing single- and double-digit multiplication
combinations. For example, 423 is equal to (420)+(43), while 1826 is equal to (10
20)+(106)+(820)+(86). By virtue of the distributive property, these and similar
combinations can be broken down into pieces that require basic multiplication facts and multiplication of single digits by multiples of 10. These pieces or partial products are made visible
when students model the combinations with base ten area pieces or sketches of arrays.
20

20

3
18

4 23

Bridges in Mathematics Grade 4 Teachers Guide

26

10 10 20

10 6

8 20

86

18 26

ii

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Introduction

Unit 2

Strategies
Throughout the unit, students are encouraged to develop a variety of strategies so they can
choose the most efficient, sophisticated, or even elegant strategy based on the numbers in the
problem. Students use base ten pieces to build the model, then move on to sketches and mental
images of arrays, developing increasingly efficient strategies.
15
10

10

100

50

80

40

15
30

10 10 15 = 150

18

18

270

8 8 15 = 120

100 + 80 + 50 + 40
Four partial products

150 + 120
Two partial products

18 15 = 9 30
Doubling-Halving

Doubling & Halving

Divided along place value lines, the model yields 4 partial products; divided into just 2 regions, it
yields the same products obtained by using the standard algorithm. More efficient yet is the strategy of cutting one of the factors (18) in half, and doubling the other (15), which results in 930, a
combination thats easily solved. In fact, by the end of the year, students learn to use the strategy of
doubling and halving to solve a variety of multiplication problems with great efficiency.
25

50

50

100
16

32

32

64

Doubling and Halving

Ratio Tables
Like the base ten area pieces and sketches of arrays, ratio tables provide another way to help students transition from additive to multiplicative strategies. Students who consistently use repeated
addition to find products are encouraged to move to skip-counting, and from there to tracking
the counts in a rudimentary ratio table. As they become comfortable with multiplying by 10, they
devise more sophisticated and efficient ratio tables, such as the one shown at the far right.

23 12
3

23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
+ 23
276

23
46
69
92
115
138
161
184
207
230
253
276

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

23
46
69
92
115
138
161
184
207
230
253
276

23s Total
10

1
10
2
12

23
10
230
46
276

As the teacher nudges students in the direction of efficiency, repeated addition gives way
to skip-counting. Students learn to format skip-counting as a ratio table, and then to use a ratio
table in a more compact and efficient manner.

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iii

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Unit 2

Introduction

Models
The principle models used throughout Unit 2 are the array or area model and the ratio table.
The Array or Area Model
The purpose of using the array model is to help fourth graders decompose numbers to make them
easier to multiply. It also helps students move from additive to multiplicative reasoning, because it
enables them to actually see the partial products. When they build a 5-by-23 array with base ten
area and linear pieces, for example, they can see and discuss the fact that they are multiplying tens
and ones. It is this fundamental understanding that allows students to make the difficult transition
from additive to multiplicative thinking, developing both visual models and sensible computational steps that help them move away from repeated addition toward more efficient strategies.

20

5
Students I see 50 plus 50 plus 15.
I see 100 plus 5 groups of 3. Thats 115.
I know where the 100 came from! Its 5 times 20.
5 times 10 and 5 times 10 more is the same as 5 times 20.
The whole thing is 100+15. Thats 115.
The power of the array model is perhaps even more apparent in 2-by-2-digit multiplication,
because each of four partial products is clearly visible, thereby offering students the opportunity
to understand the meanings of the numbers, notations, and steps in either the standard (traditional) algorithm or algorithms they may invent on their own.
14

12

12 14 = 168

100

40

20

10 10 = 100
10 2 = 20
10 4 = 40
24=8
100 + 60 + 8 = 168

12
14
48
+ 120
168

While its possible for students to see and understand each step of the standard multiplication
algorithm in the array, they can also use the model to develop their own procedures. It is for
this reason that researcher Karen Fuson (2004) has cited the use of such arrays as the method
of teaching multiplication and division that leads to algorithms and multi-step procedures
that are most accessible to a wide range of students: The complex alternation of multiplying
and adding in the usual algorithm is not necessary, is a source of errors, and obfuscates what
students are actually doing in multi-digit multiplication: multiplying each combination of units
and adding all of them.
The Ratio Table
As noted in the strategies section above, the
ratio table helps students make the transition
from repeated addition to skip-counting to using
partial products to perform multiplication.

Bridges in Mathematics Grade 4 Teachers Guide

18s Total
1
18
2
36
3
54
4
72
2 10
5
90
6 108
7 126
8 144
9 162
10 180
11 198
12 216

iv

18s Total
1
10
2
12

18
180 10 2
36
216

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Introduction

Unit 2

Algebra Connections in This Unit

s

las e

us

or disp ay

The continued use of ratio tables in this unit advances proportional reasoning. Students use
ratio tables for simple measurement conversions of money, mass, volume, and length as they
represent large units in terms of smaller units They will continue to use this approach as they
Un t 2 P st s ssm nt p e of
work with more types of units.

number
of quarters
1
4

$0.25
$1.00

number
of mL

number
of liters

amount
b th
of money

2 1
2
3
6

1,000
2,000
6,000

2
3

Fillwith
in t the
e b anks
Students 2
work
associative, commutative, and distributive properties in this unit will
transfer to their work with variables
in algebra. They will be prepared to understand:
20

Just as 820=(82)10,
it is also true that 82n=(82)n.
6
0
Just as 810=108, it is also true that 6(n+5)=(n+ 5)6.
Just as 1215=(10+2)(10+5)=(1010)+(210)+(105)+(25), it also holds that
(n+2)(n+5)=(nn)+(2n)+(n5)+(25).
In Unit 2, students are often asked to consider the veracity of such equations as 930=2710,
which leads them to grapple with and make sense of properties of operations. Throughout the unit,
students also fill in missing dimensions and areas in rectangles and missing factors and products
in ratio tables. The input-output thinking involved in completing ratio tables helps them develop
the sense of relation between two variables. This will continue to develop into functions in algebra.

Fill in the blanks and complete the equations for each array.
5

50

13 _____ = _____

10

100

2
_____ _____ = _____

Fill in the blanks in the ratio table.

Number of Pencils
Number of Students

13
1

39
2

130
5

11

Teaching Tips
Organizing Stray Materials
Designate a small container for stray base ten area and linear pieces, and then have a student put
them away in the right place later on.

Handling Base Ten Area & Linear Pieces

Encourage students to slide base ten pieces (or colored tiles and red linear units) around their
desks rather than trying to pick them up and place them down.

Bridges in Mathematics Grade 4 Teachers Guide

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