Primary 2 · Mathematics
P2 multiplication and division
Twenty stickers, five on each page: how many pages? It is easy to answer 100, because "each" has always meant multiply. Twenty buttons and a few small bowls show why it cannot be.
- Level
- P2
- Usually taught
- Term 2
- Covers
- 2 concepts
What changes at P2
In Primary 2 your child learns the multiplication tables of 2, 5 and 10, and meets division properly: sharing equally, and grouping into equal groups. The 3 and 4 times tables follow a term later.
Word problems now need a choice between × and ÷. Singapore schools teach a frame for it, GET: the number of Groups, the number in Each group, and the Total. Any two give the third.
The sentence that costs the mark
There are 20 stickers. Each page holds 5 stickers. How many pages are needed?
What the working usually does
20 ×5=100
Sees "each" and multiplies, as every story so far has needed.
What the question asked
20 ÷5=4
Knows the total and the number in each, so divides for the groups.
20 × 5 = 100 is a true fact from a table the child knows, and "each" has meant multiply in every story until now. Only asking whether 100 pages for 20 stickers makes sense gives it away.
| Group | Detail |
|---|---|
| 20 |
The same question, worked properly
What do we know?
Total = 20, Each = 5Write down which two of Groups, Each and Total the story gives before writing any sum.
What is asked?
Groups = the number of pagesThis is the step that fails. Total and Each are known, so the groups come from dividing, not multiplying. The word "each" tempts a child to multiply anyway.
Divide, then check
20 ÷ 5 = 4, and 4 × 5 = 204 pages are needed. Multiplying back is the check, and it gives the 20 stickers again.
How can you tell it has clicked?
Before any sum, ask your child which two of Groups, Each and Total the story gives. A child who says "the total and each, so I divide" has it.
A child who writes 20 × 5 straight away is following the word "each". Ask whether 100 pages for 20 stickers sounds right. Most will laugh, and then fix it.
One thing to try tonight
Give your child 20 buttons and a few small bowls as pages. Say "5 on each page" and ask how many pages they will fill.
They will never fill 100 pages with 20 buttons, and saying so out loud is the sense-check the page is about.
What your child will meet in this topic
- Times Tables
- Division Basics
Most Singapore schools introduce this in Term 2, though schools do differ by a term either way. If your child’s school runs a different order, you can set it in the schedule on your dashboard.
What it leads to
The 3 and 4 times tables come later in P2, built from facts your child already knows: 3 × 8 is 2 × 8 and one more 8.
In P3, division meets remainders, and the same habit decides the answer: read what exactly the question is asking for.
The same topic in other years
It comes back each year and gets harder, so it helps to see what came before and what is coming.
More in Primary 2
Other topics in the same year, so you can see what sits either side of this one.
Struggling with the working rather than the topic itself? How to help your child with problem sums
See how your child is doing on this topic
StudyLah marks each step separately, so you can see whether it was the setup or the arithmetic that cost the mark.