Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for August 27, 2013

While I don’t think it’s necessary to teach algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus in grade school, I’m still appalled that Holly doesn’t know how to multiply.

I still don’t understand why she’s doing her times tables. I know she’s an insufferable brat who needs to be smacked but nothing in the strip has ever indicated she was mentally backward.

Would washing her mouth out with soap be child abuse? I wouldn’t make her swallow, I promise.

I mean, really! Talking that way to your grandmother?!?! Shame on you!

I don’t really get the whole times-tables thing. I’ve gotten the idea that Holly actually is a bright girl who just doesn’t apply herself because she’s so busy being 14. Multiplication drills are more the stuff of Alix’s grade, not Holly’s.

we’re getting off-topic but there seems to be a trend away from teaching the children to do math in their head – my son is 20 and doing reasonably well in junior level engineering calculus classes yet he is not particularly strong or fast at doing multiplication in his head. Too permissive with calculators these days!

I recall in the 4th & 5th grades we spent a lot of time on timed tests in multiplication tables. it helped.

All of that said, this is a comic strip – showing higher level math would complicate the strip. Enjoy it for what it is and don’t over-analyze it!

There is a website where she could practice her multiplication skills among other brain tweakers and help people get food ( rice )http://freerice.com/#/multiplication-table/17534

I have a grandson going into the 5th grade and we spent the biggest part of the this last month going over and over his multiplication tables. He knows all of them but the 12’s give him a little bit of trouble and he has to think about the answer. Most of the others he can do lightening fast, which I have heard will be good because the first 6 weeks of 5th grade is a lot of timed multiplication tests.

Holly, that’s an easy one! 84! Any fool knows that!

Edie’s shuffling flash cards when we’re not looking...8×6 or 6×8?

I foresee a lifetime career for Holly in the fast-food industry.

How can she not know multiplication facts? My kids and I all learned those in third grade!

My friend slaps my sister with her eyeballs.I’m surprised the grandma is letting Holly get away with cursing, or not even getting her mom.

Why doesn’t she put it in real world terms. Evie can explain that while they were building homes in Haiti they would need to figure out quantities for the supplies. In all of that devastation calculators aren’t really an option. Nails, boards, food for the workers, everything is MATH.

It won’t work Holly.

My daughter refused to remember anything about math. In high school she constantly used a calculator to divide by 1.

I’ve seen college graduates using their pocket calculators to help with their ten-times tables!

Holly’s not stupid — she knows it takes 8 weeks of $5 allowance to buy $40 jeans. She knows it takes ten nights of babysitting to pay for that cool jean jacket she wants. She knows that 5 days of 60 minute detention is 300 minutes of her life she will never get back. Holly’s no dummy.

Yes, I agree it is!

This is the second day of a rerun week of late August 2009 Stone Soup strips.

they had these comic strips before

The multiplication tables become much simpler once you start recognizing the patterns in them. Since 5 is half of 10, the even numbers come out this way: 2×5=10, 4×5=20, 6×5=30, 8×5=40. This means, when the same numbers are multiplied by 6, you get 12, 24, 36, 48. Actually, the reversal of the numbers on the flash cards in today’s cartoon becomes relevant. 6×8 = 8×6 = 48. The 9x table becomes real fun, because 2×9=18, 1+8=9; 3×9=27, 2+7=9; etc. Not all the numbers have readily apparent patterns, but you can always use the obvious ones as shortcuts to the less obvious ones.