Here’s the third in my series of multiplication tricks. The first was a trick for multiplying by 5. The second a trick for multiplying by 15, and now this one, a trick for multiplying by 25. Anyone see a pattern?

TRICK #3:

WHAT THE TRICK LETS YOU DO: Quickly multiply numbers by 25.

HOW YOU DO IT:  The key to multiplying by 25 is to think about quarters, as in “nickels, dimes, and quarters.”

Since four quarters make a dollar, and a dollar is worth 100 cents, the concept of quarters helps children see that 4 x 25 = 100.

Since four quarters make one dollar, children can see that twice that many quarters, 8, must make two dollars (200 cents). And from that fact children can see that 8 x 25 = 200.

Following this pattern, children can see that twelve quarters make three dollars (300 cents). So 12 x 25 = 300. And so on.

Fine. But how does all of this lead to a multiplication trick?

The trick is this. To multiply a number by 25, divide the number by 4 and then tack two 0s at the end, which is the same as multiplying by 100.

A few more examples:

16 x 25. Divide 16 by 4 to get 4, so the answer is 400. [In money terms, 16 quarters make $4 = 400 cents.]

24 x 25. Divide 24 by 4 to get 6, so the answer is 600. [In money terms, 24 quarters make $6 = 600 cents.]

48 x 25. Divide 48 by 4  to get 12, so the answer is 1200. [In money terms, 48 quarters make $12 = 1200 cents.]

Try these for practice:

20 x 25

32 x 25

36 x 25

16 x 25

24 x 25

44 x 25

52 x 25

76 x 25

Answers:

 20 x 25  =  500

32 x 25  =   800

36 x 25  =  900

16 x 25  =  400

24 x 25  =  600

44 x 25  =  1100

52 x 25  =  1300

76 x 25  =  1900

But wait, you protest … what about all of the numbers that are not divisible by 4? Good question! But it turns out that there’s a workaround. You still divide by 4, but now you pay attention to the remainder.

If the remainder is 1, that’s like having 1 extra quarter, an additional 25 cents, so you add 25 to the answer.

Example:  17 x 25. Since 17 ÷ 4 = 4 remainder 1, the answer is 400 + 25 = 425.

If the remainder is 2, that’s like having 2 extra quarters, an additional 50 cents, so you add 50 to the answer.

Example: 26 x 25. Since 26 ÷ 4 =  6 remainder 2, the answer is 600 + 50 = 650.

If the remainder is 3, that’s like having 3 extra quarters, an additional 75 cents, so you add 75 to the answer.

Example:  51 x 25. Since 51 ÷ 4 = 12 remainder 3, the answer is 1200 + 75 = 1275.

Now try these for practice:

9 x 25

11 x 25

14 x 25

19 x 25

22 x 25

25 x 25

34 x 25

49 x 25

Answers:

9 x 25  =  225

11 x 25  =  275

14 x 25  =  350

19 x 25  =  475

22 x 25  =  550

25 x 25  =  625

34 x 25  =  850

49 x 25  =  1225

Happy teaching!

—  Josh