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The 12 times table: ten of them plus two more

I'm Heron. I help people do math in their heads, and the 12s are the row I used to skip.

The bottom of the chart looked like the hard part, so I left it for later. Let's go through it together: most of it turned out to be facts I already had.

The 12 times table from 1 to 12

Here is the whole chart. Twelve facts from the multiplication table for 12, and the next section turns each into two easy pieces.

• 12 ×1=12
• 12 ×2=24
• 12 ×3=36
• 12 ×4=48
• 12 ×5=60
• 12 ×6=72
• 12 ×7=84
• 12 ×8=96
• 12 ×9=108
• 12 ×10=120
• 12 ×11=132
• 12 ×12=144

The table climbs in jumps of twelve, from 12 up to 144.

Now read the last digit of the first ten answers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0. Those are the endings of the 2 times table, because a 12 ends in a 2.

So every answer here is even. An odd answer is wrong on sight.

Why ten of them plus two more works

Twelve is 10 plus 2. That is the whole trick: ten of the number, two of the number, added together.

Why those two? Ten and two are the easiest numbers to multiply by, and a dozen is made of both.

Tap through and the pieces are 70, 14, and 84: one easy ten, one easy double, one add.

Three goes the same way: ten 3s make 30, two more make 6, and 12 × 3 = 36.

Only one fact here is new

If your other tables ran to twelve, eleven of these twelve are already yours. 12 × 7 is the same answer as 7 × 12, the last fact of the 7 times table in a different coat.

• 12 ×1→1s
• 12 ×2→2s
• 12 ×3→3s
• 12 ×4→4s
• 12 ×5→5s
• 12 ×6→6s
• 12 ×7→7s
• 12 ×8→8s
• 12 ×9→9s
• 12 ×10→10s
• 12 ×11→11s
• 12 ×12→new

Nine boxes of twelve hold what twelve boxes of nine hold: turning the boxes adds no eggs.

After each arrow is the table that fact already lives in. Only the last line has nowhere to point.

England's check never asks it both ways at once. Its rules say a question and its reversal do not appear in the same version, so no version asks both 12 × 7 and 7 × 12.

That leaves 12 × 12 = 144. It is the only fact on this chart with no home in another table, and the old word for a dozen dozen is a gross.

One honest warning: an old fact can still arrive late. A child who learned 84 as 7 × 12 has to recognize it turned around in six seconds, so every question below comes at you as 12 × something.

Practice the 12 times table

Ten questions, friendly ones first. Type an answer, and if it is wrong, the box hands you the ten to start from.

The next six are where the split earns its keep. Say both pieces out loud: saying them is what makes them stick.

The 12s in England's tables check

England counts the 12s among its hardest. Year 4 there takes a multiplication tables check, 25 questions at six seconds each, and the tables it names as most difficult are the 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 times tables.

The questions come from the 121 facts in the 2 to 12 tables, and every version asks between two and four of them from the 12s.

No version leaves them out. The 2s and the 10s can be dropped completely, and the 12s always get at least two, like the 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s.

England's year 4 gets there: in 2025 the most common result was full marks, and 37% of eligible pupils scored 25 out of 25.

Splitting a number into easy pieces outlasts this table: it is the habit behind grown-up mental arithmetic, with a question a day in our mental math practice. The 3 times table, the 4 times table, the 7 times table, and the 8 times table sit next door.

What to remember

• A dozen is ten and two. Do the ten, do the double, add them, and the whole table falls out.
• Only 12 × 12 = 144 is new ground. The other eleven are facts from other tables, turned around.
• Every answer is even. The endings run 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, the same five the 2s use.

FAQ