Us kids would often walk to Primary school, chanting our Times Tables as we went…the older ones would start it off… and we younger ones would do our best to keep up without too many mistakes…
Those were .happy days, when it was safe to let children go it alone…
How did you learn them…???
The same way as you Stella, by rote, chanting them on the way to school and in class. This and mental arithmatic are two of the most useful things from my schooldays ; 
Many moons ago, I worked in a newsagent’s shop and one day a lady came up to the counter with 8 packets of Polo’s. I looked at the price which was 12p and said 96 pence please. Now I’m not sure if it was a compliment or not, but as she handed over a pound coin ,she looked at me and said "well you’re older than you look if you can do 8 x12 in your head " .
And we learnt our tables by rote, they’re still there tucked away in my brain somewhere !
At school we had to learn up to our 20 times table not just up to 12 - this was quite a challenge.
Not as hard as you think. After the switch to having more mental maths in British Primary schools this sort of thing became routine.
17x8=
(10x8)+(7x8)=
80+56=136
Simple.
It isn’t the arithmetic that is complex it is knowing the full 20 times tables with instant recollection.
that’s where repeated mutterings come into their own.
“oh sah coat” … who can tell me what this is a reminder for… ?? my maths teacher got us muttering that one… and I still remember it so clearly… and it has come in useful over the years.
Looks like the trigonometry formulae
opposite/hypotenuse = sine
adjacent/hypotenuse = cosine
opposite/adjacent = tangent
We learned “Tommy On A Ship Of His Caught A Herring” - still burned into my memory along with “Black Beetles Running On Your Garden Bring Very Good Weather”.
Several geek points to anyone who knows what the latter is all about.
Another maths problem in the news.
(nothing to do with the answer but I’d just like to say SFN makes uploading photos easier than any other forum that I’ve used)
Does anyone mutter “fiddly dum fiddly dee” when working with circles etc… ??
He made $20
But had to give half of it back to the government in taxes
