7 times 7 is 49 — with the shortcut, the division facts and a drill to make it stick
7 × 7 = 49. It is the square in the middle of the hardest row of the grid, and once it is solid the facts around it stop being guesses.
7 × 7 = 49. Said out loud in the way most classrooms say it: Seven sevens are forty-nine.
7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 49 — that is seven sevens added together.
49 is a square number, and squares are the landmarks the rest of the grid hangs off. The facts either side of it fall straight out: 6 × 8 = 48 is one less than 49, because a pair of numbers one either side of 7 always multiplies to 7² − 1. The same rule gives 5 × 9 = 45 as 49 − 4.
The usual slip is to answer 42 or 56 — the 7 × 6 and 7 × 8 neighbours — because the 7 row has no digit pattern to lean on. Anchoring 49 as "fifty take one" makes it stick: 7 × 7 is one short of 50.
It scales, too. 70 × 7 = 490, 70 × 70 = 4,900 and 0.7 × 0.7 = 0.49 are all the same fact with the decimal point moved. Seven weeks is 49 days, which is where the counting of the Hebrew Omer and the "seven sevens" of the jubilee cycle come from.
Method 1, split 7 into 5 + 2: 7 × 5 = 35 (half of 7 × 10 = 70) and 7 × 2 = 14. Add them: 35 + 14 = 49.
Method 2, the near-square trick (7 is 3 from 10): Go 3 down and 3 up: 4 × 10 = 40. Then add 3 squared: 40 + 9 = 49.
Build it from a fact you already have. 7 × 6 = 42, and one more seven on top of that gives 49.
7 × 7 is a square number: 49 is what you get when 7 is multiplied by itself, which is why the square root of 49 is 7.
Both factors are odd, so the answer has to be odd as well. 49 is odd, which rules out a whole class of slips.
7 × 7 = 49 and 49 ÷ 7 = 7 are one fact read in different directions. The facts either side — 7 × 6 = 42, 7 × 8 = 56, 6 × 7 = 42, 8 × 7 = 56 — are the answers people most often give by mistake when rushing, and each is just one seven away from 49.
7 × 7 sits in two lists at once: row 7 of the seven times table, and the seventh square number. The highlighted row is 49.
| × | 7 times table | Square numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 × 1 = 7 | 1 × 1 = 1 |
| 2 | 7 × 2 = 14 | 2 × 2 = 4 |
| 3 | 7 × 3 = 21 | 3 × 3 = 9 |
| 4 | 7 × 4 = 28 | 4 × 4 = 16 |
| 5 | 7 × 5 = 35 | 5 × 5 = 25 |
| 6 | 7 × 6 = 42 | 6 × 6 = 36 |
| 7 | 7 × 7 = 49 | 7 × 7 = 49 |
| 8 | 7 × 8 = 56 | 8 × 8 = 64 |
| 9 | 7 × 9 = 63 | 9 × 9 = 81 |
| 10 | 7 × 10 = 70 | 10 × 10 = 100 |
| 11 | 7 × 11 = 77 | 11 × 11 = 121 |
| 12 | 7 × 12 = 84 | 12 × 12 = 144 |
These are the facts one step away from 7 × 7 in the grid, and the answers people give by mistake when rushing. The last column shows how far each lands from 49; tap a fact to open it or its times table.
| Fact | Answer | Compared with 49 |
|---|---|---|
| 7 × 6 | 42 | 7 less |
| 7 × 8 | 56 | 7 more |
| 6 × 7 | 42 | 7 less |
| 8 × 7 | 56 | 7 more |
| 6 × 8 | 48 | 1 less |
| 8 × 6 | 48 | 1 less |
Use the drill on this page for a 60-second quiz on 7 × 7 and its neighbours, read the 7 times table in full, or play the arcade game until the answer comes without counting.
7 times 7 is 49. In words, seven sevens are forty-nine.
49 ÷ 7 = 7, because 7 × 7 = 49.
Method 1, split 7 into 5 + 2: 7 × 5 = 35 (half of 7 × 10 = 70) and 7 × 2 = 14. Add them: 35 + 14 = 49. Method 2, the near-square trick (7 is 3 from 10): Go 3 down and 3 up: 4 × 10 = 40. Then add 3 squared: 40 + 9 = 49.
0.49. It is 7 × 7 = 49 with the decimal point moved two places, one for each factor that had a decimal place.
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.