Multiplying whole numbers

Multiplying whole numbers starts with a solid knowledge of a multiplication table. I may never say this enough! The more you know your multiplication table, the easier it is going to be for you to perform multiplication.

When numbers are multiplied, each number is called a factor. The result of multiplying numbers is called a product.


The easiest multiplication we can perform is the one with one digit because all we need is a good remembrance of the multiplication table.

Look at the following multiplication problems.You can get your answer right off a multiplication table. Note that 0 × 6 = 0. In fact, any number times 0 = 0.

More examples showing how to multiply whole numbers

Multiplying a two-digit number by a one-digit may be a little bit more fun.

The following is a multiplication of two-digit by a one digit-number (46 × 7)

Please study this example carefully since other examples will build on this one!

Notice that when the product of the ones is greater than 9, you must rename the tens and ones.

In our example above, 42 ones were renamed 4 tens and 2 ones. Then, the 4 tens are added to the 28 tens in the tens column to get 32 tens.

It can be time-consuming to write the tens and the ones when doing multiplication. As a shortcut, you can also do the following to find the product:


There is even a shorter way to multiply with renaming. Generally, that is how we perform multiplication.

Study also the next example:

Sometimes, you multiply by a factor that contains two or more digits.

For example, multiply 46 by 37. Look at the way it is done below and notice that you already performed the multiplication for 46 × 7 and 46 × 3


Why did we put a 0 beneath the 2? Because there is no value for the ones place (Values in the ones place are values that are smaller than 9). Multiplying 3 by 6 gave us 18 and 18 is bigger than 9. Thus, 18 has to go in the tens place.

Multiplying whole numbers quiz. See how well you can multiply whole numbers.