What is the product of a math answer?

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What is the product of a math answer?

In maths the product of two numbers is the result you get when you multiply them. We explain how children are taught multiplication vocabulary in KS2 and what kind of problems they might be asked to solve,

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The product of two numbers is the result you get when you multiply them together.

So 12 is the product of 3 and 4, 20 is the product of 4 and 5 and so on.

 

What is the product of a math answer?

Children need to become familiar with this concept in Key Stage 2 as questions such as the following often come up in mental maths test and written tests:

What is the product of 10 and 3?

If children are not aware of the definition of this word, it is very easy for them to think the above question requires addition of 10 and 3 (13) instead of multiplication of 10 and 3 (30).

In Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 children are expected to be familiar with a range of mathematical vocabulary.

Vocabulary related to multiplication includes:
 

  • product
  • times
  • multiplied
  • 'lots' of (often represented visually as arrays).

Children may be given puzzles or investigations which include vocabulary that they need to be confident with, for example:

Which two even numbers below twenty give a product of 108?

For this, children need to be aware of the meaning of the words 'even' and 'product'. Their next task is to think about how to work out the answer.
 

A good way to do this would be to list all the even numbers below twenty and then practise multiplying different pairs together. (It may be a good idea for them to carry this out in some kind of order, so that they make sure they do not multiply the same pairs twice!)

Answer: 18 and 6

What is the product of a math answer?

Suppose you are at the bakery and you want to buy four cupcakes. When you reach there, you see that one cupcake costs $5. How will you calculate how much you should pay at the check-out counter?

The concept of product in math helps you answer this and do much more!

What is Product in Math?

A product in math is defined as the result of two or more numbers when multiplied together.

Let us consider the same scenario. You were running an errand at the bakery and had to buy 4 cupcakes. Each cupcake costs $5. 

To calculate the total amount you need to pay at the checkout counter, you can add the cost of each cupcake 4 times (as you need to buy 4 cupcakes).

What is the product of a math answer?

So, the answer will be

5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = $\$$20

If you needed 10 cupcakes, you would have to add the cost 10 times. 

This is where the concept of multiplication and product can help you.

In the previous answer, you can calculate the cost of 4 cupcakes by simply multiplying them,

You can find the cost as,

4 times 5 or 4 ✕ 5, 

You can skip count by 5, four times and get the answer as 20.

Multiplier, Multiplicand, and Product

A multiplicand is the number of objects in a group, and a multiplier is the number of such equal groups. Let’s consider an example to understand this better.

Suppose you have 3 baskets, and each basket has 6 oranges. How will you calculate the total number of oranges?

What is the product of a math answer?

This is when the concept of the product comes to our rescue! First, let us write this as a multiplication expression as: 

Number of groups ✕ number of objects in each group

or

3 ✕ 6

So, we can find the total number of oranges by skipping counting by 6, three times, and that is 18.

So we get, 3 ✕ 6 = 18.

This is a multiplication expression. A multiplication expression has three parts, a multiplier, a multiplicand, and the product.

What is the product of a math answer?

Commutative Property of Product

Interestingly, if the order of the multiplicand and multiplier are reversed, the product remains the same:

Let’s look at an example:

2 ✕ 3 = 6

Here, 2 is the multiplicand, 3 is the multiplier, and 6 is the product.

If we reverse the equation, we still get

3 ✕ 2 = 6

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Product of Fractions and Decimals

So far, we have learned how to calculate the product of whole numbers. Let’s now learn how to find the product of fractions and decimals!

Product of Fractions

Let’s learn this with the help of an example.

Suppose we have to find the product of the fractions 52 and 34.

What is the product of a math answer?

Step 1: Multiply the numerator with the numerator and the denominator with the denominator.

What is the product of a math answer?

Step 2: If you get an improper fraction, you can convert this into a mixed number.

What is the product of a math answer?

We can also find the product of two mixed numbers or a fraction and a mixed number or even a whole number and a fraction by the same method by just ensuring that we convert our multiplicand and multipliers into fraction form first.

Product of Decimals

What makes a decimal number special?The decimal point!Multiplying two decimal numbers is the same as multiplying two whole numbers with the exception that we need to take care of the decimal point.

Let’s learn this with the help of an example.

Let’s multiply 1.5 and 1.2.

Step 1: Count the number of digits after the decimal point in both the numbers.

What is the product of a math answer?

Step 2: So the total number of digits after the decimal point in our multiplication expression is 1 + 1 = 2. 

Step 3: Multiply the two numbers without the decimal point.

What is the product of a math answer?

Step 4: In this product, start from the right and place the decimal point, after the same number of places as the total number found in step 2. And that will be the answer to our decimal multiplication.

What is the product of a math answer?

So the product of 1.5 and 1.2 will be 1.80. 

Solved Examples

Example 1: Jake has 4 boxes of apples. If 1 box has 3 apples, how many apples does he have?

Solution: In this example, the multiplicand is 3 and the multiplier is 4.

Hence, the total number of apples Jake has = the product of 4 and 3.

or 4 ✕ 3 = 12

Example 2: Calculate the product of $\frac{3}{7}$ and $\frac{5}{6}$.

Solution: $\frac{3}{7} ✕ \frac{5}{6} = \frac{3 ✕ 5}{7 ✕ 6} = \frac{15}{42}$

Example 3: Calculate the product of 125 and 34 .

Solution: First, let’s convert the mixed number into fraction form.

What is the product of a math answer?

So, multiplying $1\frac{2}{5}$ and $\frac{3}{4}$ is the same as multiplying $\frac{7}{5}$ and $\frac{3}{4}$ .

Following the steps of fraction multiplication, we get,

$\frac{7}{5} ✕ \frac{3}{4} = \frac{7 ✕ 3}{5 ✕ 4} = \frac{21}{20} = 1\frac{1}{20}$.

Example 4: Calculate the product of 0.09 and 0.3.

Solution.: First, let’s count the number of decimal places.

Number of decimal places in 0.09 = 2

Number of decimal places in 0.3 = 1

The total number of decimals places in the final answer = 2 + 1 = 3

Now let’s multiply the two numbers without the decimal point: 9 ✕ 3 = 27

Placing the decimal point from the right after 3 digits in this product, we get 0.027.

Therefore, 0.09 ✕ 0.3 = 0.027.

Practice Problems

Attend this quiz & Test your knowledge.

Correct answer is: 24Here, the product will be number of groups ✕ number of objects in each group

4 ✕ 6 = 24

Correct answer is: $1\frac{2}{12}$
$\frac{7}{2} ✕ \frac{4}{3} = \frac{7 ✕ 2}{4 ✕ 3} = \frac{14}{12} = \frac{12}{12}$.

Correct answer is: 0.15Total number of decimals places = 1 + 1 = 2 Product without decimal point, 5 ✕ 3 = 15

Therefore, 0.5 ✕ 0.3 = 0.15.

Both have an equal number of candies

Correct answer is: Both have an equal number of candiesNumber of candies with Jimmy = 4 ✕ 3 = 12 Number of candies with Joe = 3 ✕ 4 = 12

Thus, both have an equal number of candies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens when you calculate the product of a number and 0?

When you calculate the product of a number with 0, you get the answer as 0. 

For instance, 5 ✕ 0 = 0; this is called the zero property of multiplication.

What is a multiplicand and a multiplier?

A multiplicand represents the number of equal groups, and a multiplier represents the number of objects in each group. For instance, consider the following equation:

2 ✕ 7 = 14

Here, 2 is the multiplicand, 4 is the multiplier, and 14 is the product.

What is the identity property of multiplication?

It states that any number multiplied by 1 gives the same result as the number itself. For instance, 35✕ 1 = 35.