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✖️ Place Value and the Distributive Property

Big multiplications get easy when you split numbers by place value. Break a number into tens and ones, multiply each part, and add them back — the distributive property in action.

lessons

~15 min

to learn

🔢 Math

subject

Ages 6–12

level

Start the course →

What you’ll learn

Split by Place ValueSplit two-digit numbers into tens and ones as the foundation for easier multiplication.Place value lets you break a number apart. 13 is 1 ten and 3 ones (10 + 3), and 24 is 20 + 4. Reading which place each digit sits in tells you its true value, and splitting numbers this way sets up the distributive property.
The Distributive PropertyUse the distributive property to multiply by splitting a number into tens and ones.The distributive property says you can multiply each place value separately and add the results. For 7 × 13, split 13 into 10 + 3, multiply to get 70 and 21, then add: 70 + 21 = 91. The whole product is just the tens piece plus the ones piece.
Use It to Multiply BigApply the split-multiply-add method to real two-digit multiplication problems.Real 'rows of' problems are just multiplication. For 6 rows of 14 seats, split 14 into 10 + 4, multiply each by 6 (60 and 24), and add to get 84. Whether it is 6 × 14 or 5 × 23, breaking a number into tens and ones turns one hard fact into two easy ones.

Questions this course answers

How do you split 24 into a tens part and a ones part?

The 2 is in the tens place (20) and the 4 is in the ones place, so 24 = 20 + 4.

To find 7 × 13, how do you split the 13?

13 splits into 10 + 3, so 7 × 13 = 7 × 10 + 7 × 3.

Using the split trick, what is 5 × 23?

5 × 20 = 100 and 5 × 3 = 15, so 100 + 15 = 115.

Grounded in trusted sources

Khan Academy
NRICH — University of Cambridge
NCTM — teaching standards
Britannica Kids

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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