Children will now have to know their 12 times tables by the age of nine, but it's not about rote learning, it's about revelling in the profusion of patterns, writes Rob Eastaway, maths writer and dad.

In this method the smaller number is partitioned (broken down into tens and units). \({27}\) is broken down into \({10}\), \({10}\) and \({7}\). The method of partitioning into tens, simplifies the ...

Anita Ponsaing receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). Most people will probably remember the times tables from primary school quizzes.