Adding and subtracting were painfully difficult for me, and I was not able to learn the multiplication tables.

NPR: Living With an Inability to Do Math

He asked him to set the multiplication tables to music.

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"Indeed in our view such competence is central to the success of primary mathematics, so much so that we would recommend an earlier emphasis for the mastery of some basic skills such as multiplication tables, " he said in a paper due to be published later this week.

BBC: Primary maths plan threatens 'too much too soon'