Multiplication Table Applet
INSTRUCTIONS: To perform multiplication 3 times 5, (1) click on the button "3" in the first column and (2) on the button "5" in the first row of the table. (3) Next, click the equality sign button "=" in the right upper corner of the table.

The result appears as the last number in both last column and last row of the table. Simultaneously the first five initially white squares in the first three rows turn yellow creating a three rows by five columns rectangle made of fifteen yellow squares.

Consecutive numbers in the last column show the total numbers of yellow squares in one, two and three rows of the particular yellow rectangle related to the multiplication three times five. Similarly, the consecutive numbers in the last row show the total numbers of yellow squares in one, two, three, four and five columns of this yellow square.

All of it visualizes the structure of multiplication and its relation to the operation of addition showing that

3 x 5 = 5 + 5 + 5 OR
3 x 5 = 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3

A similar interpretation applies to any other multiplication of two numbers.
Reproduced with permission from Edward Kluk, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Natural Sciences, DSU