Multiplication Is Vexation Lyrics
Every child who has struggled with times tables will understand this one. It is a complaint about arithmetic lessons that has been passed from pupil to pupil for hundreds of years.
Multiplication Is Vexation
Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad;
The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
And Practice drives me mad.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/multiplication-is-vexation/
- Type
- Counting Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 6 to 11 years
What Does Multiplication Is Vexation Mean?
Vexation means annoyance. The rhyme lists the parts of arithmetic that troubled schoolchildren: multiplication, division, the Rule of Three (an old method for working out proportions, like the price of five apples if three cost a penny) and Practice (an old shortcut for sums with pounds, shillings and pence). Practice, says the last line, "drives me mad".
History and Origin
Versions of this rhyme are very old, and the subjects it names come straight from English school arithmetic books of the 1600s to the 1800s, which all taught the Rule of Three and Practice. It appears in The Real Mother Goose (1916), by which time most children would have known those lessons only from their grandparents' complaints.
Learning Activities
- Modern version: ask children to rewrite it for today: fractions, long division, times tables.
- Rule of Three puzzle: if three apples cost six pennies, what do five cost? It shows what the old lesson was about.
- Chant and clap: clap on multiplication, division, three and mad.