Repeated addition is adding groups of numbers together multiple times. It is a type of multiplication used to teach children how to multiply.
Example
A teacher may want to help a child find the answer to ‘4×4’.
Instead of relying on times tables, they would ask the student what 4 lots of 4 are.
The child could then write the sum as a ‘4+4+4+4’.
It is a repeated addition.
We can see the same again with ‘5×2’.
Suppose we write it out instead as ‘5+5’ or ‘2+2+2+2+2. And if we add five together twice or two together five times, the answer is ten. We get the same answer for ‘5×2’.
The answers to the above are as follows.
2+2+2, or 3×2 is 6.
4+4, or 2×4 is 8.
3+3, or 2×3 is 6.
3+3+3, or 3×3 is 9.
1+1+1+1, or 4×1 is 4.
Learning repeated addition facts can be easier than learning multiplication facts. For example, children might not yet know that ‘3×3=9’, but they can work out what ‘3+3+3’ is.
Visual aids
A good way of teaching repeated addition is to help your child visualize the question.
They could use a number line to track each step of ‘4+4+4+4’.
They could also group images into sets of 4 to help them realize that ‘4×4’ = 4 lots of 4.
Breaking multiplication sums down this way makes them easier to visualize and solve. Repeated addition can also be a helpful way of doing multiplication when dealing with more significant numbers. For example, if we’re asked ‘3×25′, it may be easier to think of it as ’25+25+25’, the answer being 75. Or if the question is ‘5×30’, it can be easier to work out ‘3+3+3+3+3’ and then add on the tens.
It’s the same equation but presented in a more manageable way.
Repeated addition in word problems
Repeated addition can also be used as part of maths word problems, like in the following.
‘Anthony had five bags of sweets. Each bag of sweets has four different sweets inside. How many sweets does Anthony have in total?’
‘4+4+4+4+4’ is 20, or ‘5×4’ is 20.
Repeated addition facts
- Repeated addition is more accessible for children to develop from adding to multiplying.
- Multiplication is just a form of repeated addition.
