10 times 12 is 120 — with the shortcut, the division facts and a drill to make it stick
10 × 12 = 120. Multiplying by ten is a place-value shift, and 120 had its own name in older English counting.
10 × 12 = 120. Said out loud in the way most classrooms say it: Ten twelves are one hundred and twenty.
12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 = 120 — that is ten twelves added together.
Multiplying a whole number by 10 shifts every digit one place to the left, which looks like adding a zero: 12 becomes 120. Thinking of it as a place-value shift rather than "add a nought" is what stops the rule breaking on decimals — 1.2 × 10 is 12, not 1.20.
120 is ten dozen, and in older English counting it was called the "long hundred" or great hundred: a hundred of some goods meant 120 of them.
It is also 5 factorial (5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120) and the number of minutes in two hours.
Method 1, split 12 into 10 + 2: 10 × 10 = 100 and 10 × 2 = 20. Add them: 100 + 20 = 120.
Method 2, the near-square trick (both are 1 from 11): 10 and 12 sit 1 either side of 11, so the answer is 11 × 11 minus 1 × 1: 121 − 1 = 120.
Multiplying by 10 shifts every digit one place to the left, which on a whole number looks like writing a zero on the end. 12 becomes 120.
Because one of the factors is even, the answer has to be even. 120 is, so the parity check passes.
10 × 12 = 120, 12 × 10 = 120, 120 ÷ 10 = 12 and 120 ÷ 12 = 10 are one fact read in different directions. The facts either side — 10 × 11 = 110, 10 × 13 = 130, 9 × 12 = 108, 11 × 12 = 132 — are the answers people most often give by mistake when rushing, and each is just one ten or one twelve away from 120.
120 appears twice in the grid: as 10 × 12 in the ten times table and as 12 × 10 in the twelve times table. The highlighted row shows both.
| × | 10 times table | 12 times table |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 × 1 = 10 | 12 × 1 = 12 |
| 2 | 10 × 2 = 20 | 12 × 2 = 24 |
| 3 | 10 × 3 = 30 | 12 × 3 = 36 |
| 4 | 10 × 4 = 40 | 12 × 4 = 48 |
| 5 | 10 × 5 = 50 | 12 × 5 = 60 |
| 6 | 10 × 6 = 60 | 12 × 6 = 72 |
| 7 | 10 × 7 = 70 | 12 × 7 = 84 |
| 8 | 10 × 8 = 80 | 12 × 8 = 96 |
| 9 | 10 × 9 = 90 | 12 × 9 = 108 |
| 10 | 10 × 10 = 100 | 12 × 10 = 120 |
| 11 | 10 × 11 = 110 | 12 × 11 = 132 |
| 12 | 10 × 12 = 120 | 12 × 12 = 144 |
These are the facts one step away from 10 × 12 in the grid, and the answers people give by mistake when rushing. The last column shows how far each lands from 120; tap a fact to open it or its times table.
| Fact | Answer | Compared with 120 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 11 | 110 | 10 less |
| 10 × 13 | 130 | 10 more |
| 9 × 12 | 108 | 12 less |
| 11 × 12 | 132 | 12 more |
| 9 × 13 | 117 | 3 less |
| 11 × 11 | 121 | 1 more |
| 12 × 10 | 120 | same answer |
Use the drill on this page for a 60-second quiz on 10 × 12 and its neighbours, read the 10 and 12 times tables in full, or play the arcade game until the answer comes without counting.
10 times 12 is 120. In words, ten twelves are one hundred and twenty.
120 ÷ 10 = 12, because 10 × 12 = 120. The matching fact is 120 ÷ 12 = 10.
Method 1, split 12 into 10 + 2: 10 × 10 = 100 and 10 × 2 = 20. Add them: 100 + 20 = 120. Method 2, the near-square trick (both are 1 from 11): 10 and 12 sit 1 either side of 11, so the answer is 11 × 11 minus 1 × 1: 121 − 1 = 120.
Yes. Multiplication can be done in either order, so 10 × 12 and 12 × 10 both equal 120.
There are 16: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30, 40, 60 and 120. 120 is also 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1, written 5!.
120 ÷ 12 = 10 and 120 ÷ 10 = 12.
Every times table from 1 to 20 is written out on the times tables page, with a drill for any row, and the full grid is on the multiplication chart.