3rd Grade Multiplication Worksheet: Find Products Using Properties

We worked out the four products again from page one: 230, 351, 240 and 675 are all right. The key had three slips, though, and we fixed them before sharing it. In item a, it now says identity property instead of “identify”, and its last line reads 230 x 1 = 230, not 23 x 1. In item b, the key called the work associative, while splitting 9 x (12 + 27) into (9 x 12) + (9 x 27) is the distributive property.

Item b also has a blank to fill now, like the three others.

Before any working, ask your child which shortcut the product hides. A factor of 1 means the identity property, so the answer is simply the other number. Parentheses with a plus or a minus sign call for the distributive property: multiply each number inside by the factor, then add or subtract the two results. For example, (60 – 12) x 5 becomes 300 – 60, which is 240.

Item d, 9 x 75, goes past the facts of grade 3. So your child can break 75 into 70 + 5 and add 630 and 45 to reach 675.

Building blocks make the distributive property easy to see. Lay out 3 rows of 7 blocks, then slide a gap after the fifth block of each row. Your child now sees 3 x 5 and 3 x 2, and both parts still make 21 together. Next, swap the two factors of a product and check that the answer stays the same. Finally, let your child invent a product for a grown-up to solve, and keep the game short.