かけ算（九九）

$4\times 3$ means add $3$ four times. That is $3+3+3+3=12$, so $4\times 3=12$. Multiplication is just a shorter way to write repeated addition.

Multiplying the numbers from $1$ to $9$ together gives the times tables. Facts like $2\times 6=12$, $5\times 5=25$, and $7\times 8=56$ are learned by saying them aloud many times. Knowing them makes bigger calculations much faster.

In multiplication, you can swap the two numbers and still get the same answer. $4\times 3=12$ and $3\times 4=12$ are the same. This is called commutativity. It is handy because it means you only need to learn about half of the facts.