The MARBLE MULTIPLIER is coming soon to MoMath!
The Marble Multiplier is a calculator that multiplies two numbers together by making a rectangle out of marbles with side lengths equal to the two numbers. It then counts the number of marbles in the rectangle, and, voila! You have multiplied!
What multiplication problems will make a very long, skinny rectangle? What multiplication problems will make a square? Can you think of two different multiplication problems that make rectangles that look different, but are made of the same number of marbles?
Why do the marbles form a rectangle? Why do the extra marbles roll off the sides, rather than getting stuck?
Robert and Angela Biggar provided support that made Marble Multiplier possible.
Multiplication dates back to the earliest civilizations including the Egyptians and Babylonians. Before electronic calculators were invented, people used a device known as a slide rule, first developed in the 17th century, to do multiplication. After lining up the numbers on two different parts of the slide rule (sliding the different rulings) a third marking would show the product.
Another option, the nomogram, was invented in 1880 by Maurice d’Ocagne. To learn more about the nomogram, check out the String Product exhibit.
