Table of 2

How to say the table of 2

Two one is 2, two twos are 4, two threes are 6, two fours are 8, two fives are 10, two sixes are 12, two sevens are 14, two eights are 16, two nines are 18, two tens are 20.

In Hindi

दो एकम दो, दो दूनी चार, दो तिया छह, दो चौके आठ, दो पंजे दस, दो छक्के बारह, दो सत्ते चौदह, दो अट्ठे सोलह, दो नवें अठारह, दो दहाई बीस।

This is the traditional chant used in Hindi-medium schools. The words for the multiplier (एकम, दूनी, तिया and so on) vary a little from region to region. All the pahade from 2 to 20 are on the Hindi pahade page.

A quick way to work it out

Doubling. To multiply by 2, add the number to itself: 2 × 7 is 7 + 7 = 14, and 2 × 16 is 16 + 16 = 32. Doubling is the first mental skill worth making fast, because the tables of 4, 8 and 16 are built from it.

Patterns in the table of 2

• Last digit. The last digits run 2, 4, 6, 8 and 0 and then start again, a cycle of five. All of them are even, so no answer in the table of 2 can be odd.
• Odd and even. 2 is even, so every answer is even, whatever you multiply by.
• Digit totals. Add the digits of each answer until one digit is left. For the first nine answers you get 2, 4, 6, 8, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9: every digit from 1 to 9, once each. This happens for every number that is not a multiple of 3.
• Steps of 2. Each answer is 2 more than the one above it. So if 2 × 7 slips your mind, take 2 × 6 = 12 and add 2 to get 14.
• Total of the first ten. Add the first ten answers and you get 110. That is 55 × 2, because 1 + 2 + 3 and so on up to 10 is 55.

How the table of 2 is built

2 is a prime number: no smaller table contains it, apart from the table of 1. So 2 × 1 = 2 is the first time 2 shows up anywhere on a multiplication chart, and its table cannot be made by doubling or tripling a smaller one. The square of 2 is 2 × 2 = 4. On a multiplication chart the squares lie on the diagonal line from top left to bottom right.

The first table. This is the table most children learn first, and every line of it is a double. It is worth making these doubles instant, because halving, even and odd numbers and the tables of 4 and 8 all rest on them.

Where you meet 2

Anything that comes in pairs: shoes, socks, eyes, hands, the wheels of a cycle. Six cycles have 2 × 6 = 12 wheels. Even and odd numbers are also defined by this table: a number is even exactly when it appears in it.

Division facts from this table

Every line gives a division fact for free. From 2 × 7 = 14 you know that 14 ÷ 2 = 7 and 14 ÷ 7 = 2. To divide a number by 2, look for it in the answers above: 18 is on line 9, so 18 ÷ 2 = 9. More on this in division from tables.

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Next

All tables: 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30. Methods: table tricks.