Fluent Math is an easy-to-use, automatic method to practice multiplication automaticity without stress.
Available for free on all devices, for students, teachers, and schools.
Use Fluent Math on any device (Chromebook, iOS, Android, tablets, computers, etc.)For students in the final stages of building fluency with basic multiplication facts, or for upper-grade students who don't know their facts well enough.
Fluent Math allows each student the opportunity to automate as many facts as possible for them individually, before moving on to more advanced math. It helps students move from conscious thinking to automaticity, without stress.
Why Is This Hard?
Automaticity means being able to recall facts from memory or using automatic strategies. For facts that are difficult for a particular student, the existing memory associations—formed through understanding, strategy use, and lots of practice—need to be further strengthened.
Research shows that retrieval practice with spaced repetition is the most effective method. After seeing the correct answer, the student should be promted to recall the same fact again at increasing intervals. Each successful recall strengthens the memory, leading to lasting results.
The challenge lies in individualizing this, as timing is key to developing automaticity.
How Does Fluent Math Work?
Students simply open the app and start practicing. The entire table is reviewed in small, rolling sets, allowing each student to progress at their own pace.
Known facts are quickly verified. For facts not yet automated, students will have time to think and use their own strategies without time pressure. These facts are then practiced until they can be recalled from memory or answered efficiently. Finally, spaced repetition with active retrieval helps commit them to long-term memory.
Learn, repeat, recall => automaticity.
Practice for 5 minutes, once or preferably twice a day.
Inspired by research.
Continue to read below on how to get started and why Fluent Math works so well...
Try it live right here
“One of my students was so proud, she went from 14 to 72 correct multiplications in a 5-minute test after a week of app practice. She's so excited for tomorrow's test!
- Malin Wideheim, Special Education Teacher in Mathematics
“We've been super happy! There are so many students who need easy access to practicing their times tables.
- Pernilla Olsson, Sixth Grade Teacher
“What's been good is that you get to practice the same fact again if you were wrong. I've had time to think about the answer in my head.
- Student in Grade Seven
Fluent Math is a free web app. Open multiplication.fluentmath.com on the device you want to use. Yeah, it's that easy!
Teachers, simply share the link with your class and let everyone practice individually for 5 minutes every morning and afternoon for a week or two. You will see results in no time!
There is no login, as the results are stored in the browser, and there are no problems with privacy and GDPR, since no personal info is stored. Always use the same browser and device.
Just open and practice. Fluent Math decides which facts to work on, as this enables auto-pacing and the use of smart repetition strategies. Points are earned as progress is made over time, and once 1000 is reached, all facts have been provided efficiently!
Explore the Formative Assessment menu option to gain insights into the learning journey and identify challenges. It is a powerful tool for discovering the need for intervention and understanding the root cause of potential problems.
After mastering multiplication, students can move on to the division version, which works the same way. Practicing both with repetition and recall strengthens memory connections, enhancing automaticity in both skills.
Since unused knowledge weakens, it is a good idea to review the tables annually. Consistent, long-term use of the app helps students of all ages with automaticity of the multiplication tables.
Please consider supporting us by getting the paid iOS version for iPhone and iPad instead of the free web app. It offers the same great experience, plus audio feedback for mistakes to enhance learning (with a 4.5 out of 5 rating in the US App Store). Try it via in-app purchase or buy directly (for VPP).
Practice in a fun, stress-free, and efficient way
Building fluency with basic multiplication facts starts in early elementary school with number sense, understanding, and strategy development. There are no shortcuts to fluency: it requires practice using a variety of methods, activities, games, and tools over a long time. Using cognitive effort is initially a good thing as brain bonds are developed and strategies are formed, challenged, and reformed. The more students think, the more they learn.
With repeated practice, students naturally become fluent at applying strategies and can do less thinking. They eventually move on to automaticity, which means answering without conscious thinking, as they either become very efficient at strategies or can pull facts from memory. This happens progressively and requires a lot of varied practice over time.
Automaticity in basic facts reduces cognitive load, freeing up resources for concepts like division, fractions, algebra, multi-step calculations, etc. The benefits affect almost all aspects of mathematics in later years.
Achieving automaticity from memory for all facts is difficult for many students. However, most can either become automatic with strategy or at least more efficient. Regardless, students should be allowed the opportunity to individually reach as far as possible towards automaticity, given its importance for future studies, according to research.
Practicing specifically for automaticity after having achieved fluency is not the same as rote memorization without understanding. Far from it. Trying to move facts to automaticity at this stage builds on students' own strategies and memory networks, which is a very different thing. It does not take away the importance of understanding and flexibility.
Students should only practice specifically for automaticity when they have a strong foundation of fluency:
• As preparation for upper grades, at the end of building fluency.
• When upper-grade teachers discover that their students are not automatic enough with their facts.
• As a yearly refresher and review of multiplication facts to improve retention and automaticity.
With a fast-paced curriculum, time is limited. While it's certainly possible to practice automaticity using manual methods (e.g., flashcards), managing both individual practice with feedback and repetition of the right facts at the right time can be challenging, especially for an entire class. Fortunately, this is where digital tools excel.
Fluent Math is an automatic method to practice multiplication automaticity without stress. Teachers can, for free and in an easy way, get the entire class to practice for 5 focused minutes every morning (and preferably afternoon). The entire multiplication table is reviewed, and each student practice individually at their own pace. Fluent Math automatically handles practice, repetition, spacing, and progress.
For kids, teenagers, and adults who need to review the multiplication tables, identify the facts they struggle with, and achieve automaticity.
Nerdy but interesting stuff...
Fluent Math is a fully automatic solution for practicing automaticity of the multiplication tables. Practice in 5-minute sessions with repetitive learning.
The entire table is reviewed, from 2x2 to 10x10 (or 12x12). Known multiplication facts are verified as quickly as possible. Facts that the student thinks about for too long or answers incorrectly are registered as "not automated" and then repeated with increased intervals, first after minutes, and then after hours and days. The repetition starts over if the student thinks for too long or answers incorrectly again. Eventually, the student will either become very fast at their strategy, or they will commit the fact to memory. This knowledge is then consolidated in long-term memory through spaced repetition with active recall.
For facts to be considered automated in this context, they must be answered correctly and quickly in at least three separate sessions each at least 4 hours apart.
This method results in individualization so the pace of learning is automatically adapted to each student (according to the principle of spaced repetition, Leitner system, Anki, etc.).
Being able to multiply efficiently without conscious effort relieves the working memory aiding more advanced mathematics. It also improves confidence, which reduces the risk of math anxiety.
Students should not begin focusing on automaticity too soon, but first practice fluency for a long time using a variety of methods and tools.
When using the app, students can initially answer multiplication facts at their own pace and use their own strategies to calculate an answer without stress. Confidence is boosted as this means fewer mistakes (then under time pressure).
Repeated meaningful practice using the student's own strategies will enable the student to commit many basic multiplication facts to memory, reducing cognitive load, while practicing using these strategies flexibly and effectively in case the student forgets or cannot commit facts to memory.
The app is easy to use because it automatically determines what to practice and in what order.
Once a student has proven the automation of the first commutative variant (e.g., 6 x 3 = 18), the second variant (3 x 6 = 18) is introduced in parallel, providing good opportunities for faster automation while strengthening the insight that the two are the same thing. This streamlines half the table.
The app also tries to take advantage of the learning technique 'interleaving' by including open statements (6 × _ = 18) when the student has begun to answer the multiplication quickly. This is to further challenge the student to note and reflect upon the relationship between the two commutative variants and the open statements (e.g., 6 × 3 =, 3 × 6 =, 6 × _ = 18, 3 × _ = 18, etc.), and to strengthen the memory association of them as a unit.
The solution has been inspired by research on active recall, spaced repetition, and interleaving.
Free Web App: multiplication.fluentmath.com division.fluentmath.com
Parents can let their kids use Fluent Math for free.
Teachers can suggest Fluent Math to students for home use.
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Teachers can use Fluent Math in the classroom for free with unlimited students.
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iOS App:
Try the app for free up to 7x7. Upgrade to Premium (12x12) through in-app purchase if it helps improve your skills. It works identically to the web app, but also includes audio feedback* on facts when the answer is incorrect.
Buy Premium directly, practice facts up to 12x12. Suitable for Apple School Manager and/or VPP. It works identically to the web app, but also includes audio feedback* on facts when the answer is incorrect.
*Audio feedback is available in English or the following iOS languages when set: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, Bengali, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish.
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