Seveigny wrote:

Thanks to the good Sisters of St. Joseph, I don't have to think about
any of
these problems. I know my times tables through the 12's.
Not too long ago my 11th grade students participated in a 1930's
budget
activity. They were randomly assigned an occupation. The first step
was to
find the occupation on the handout and discover their annual salary.
The
next step required them to find their monthly income. Quick as
lightening,
they pulled out their calculators (or their cell phones with my
permission)
so they could divide their annual income by 12. As they made the
calculations, I asked "You need a calculator to divide by 12? What
would
your 4th grade teacher have to say?"
~Cate

I was surprised to hear from my kids that they only learn up to 10 x
10.

I learned up to 12 x 12, myself; someone I know, who went to an
apparently very ordinary school in India learned up to 20 x 20. Partly
as a result, he's still extremely fast at calculation.

Rupa