7 times 8 is 56 — with the shortcut, the division facts and a drill to make it stick
7 × 8 = 56. It is the fact adults most often admit to tripping on — including, famously, a government schools minister on live radio.
7 × 8 = 56. Said out loud in the way most classrooms say it: Seven eights are fifty-six.
8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 56 — that is seven eights added together.
Ask adults which multiplication fact they trip on and 7 × 8 comes up again and again — enough that in 1998 a British schools minister, Stephen Byers, famously answered "54" when asked it live on radio. The correct answer is 56, and the reason it slips is that neither 7 nor 8 has a digit pattern to fall back on.
The fix is a hook rather than more chanting. 5, 6, 7, 8: 56 = 7 × 8 — the digits run in order. Or build it from 7 × 7 = 49 and add one more 7.
Eight weeks is 56 days, which is a nice real-world check when the number comes up in planning.
Method 1, split 8 into 5 + 3: 7 × 5 = 35 (half of 7 × 10 = 70) and 7 × 3 = 21. Add them: 35 + 21 = 56.
Method 2, start from the square 7 × 7: 7 × 7 = 49, and 7 × 8 is one more 7: 49 + 7 = 56.
Double three times. 7 → 14 → 28 → 56.
This one has the neatest mnemonic in the grid. Write the answer and the question side by side and the digits run in order: 5, 6, 7, 8 — that is 56 = 7 × 8.
Because one of the factors is even, the answer has to be even. 56 is, so the parity check passes.
7 × 8 = 56, 8 × 7 = 56, 56 ÷ 7 = 8 and 56 ÷ 8 = 7 are one fact read in different directions. The facts either side — 7 × 7 = 49, 7 × 9 = 63, 6 × 8 = 48, 8 × 8 = 64 — are the answers people most often give by mistake when rushing, and each is just one seven or one eight away from 56.
56 appears twice in the grid: as 7 × 8 in the seven times table and as 8 × 7 in the eight times table. The highlighted row shows both.
| × | 7 times table | 8 times table |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 × 1 = 7 | 8 × 1 = 8 |
| 2 | 7 × 2 = 14 | 8 × 2 = 16 |
| 3 | 7 × 3 = 21 | 8 × 3 = 24 |
| 4 | 7 × 4 = 28 | 8 × 4 = 32 |
| 5 | 7 × 5 = 35 | 8 × 5 = 40 |
| 6 | 7 × 6 = 42 | 8 × 6 = 48 |
| 7 | 7 × 7 = 49 | 8 × 7 = 56 |
| 8 | 7 × 8 = 56 | 8 × 8 = 64 |
| 9 | 7 × 9 = 63 | 8 × 9 = 72 |
| 10 | 7 × 10 = 70 | 8 × 10 = 80 |
| 11 | 7 × 11 = 77 | 8 × 11 = 88 |
| 12 | 7 × 12 = 84 | 8 × 12 = 96 |
These are the facts one step away from 7 × 8 in the grid, and the answers people give by mistake when rushing. The last column shows how far each lands from 56; tap a fact to open it or its times table.
| Fact | Answer | Compared with 56 |
|---|---|---|
| 7 × 7 | 49 | 7 less |
| 7 × 9 | 63 | 7 more |
| 6 × 8 | 48 | 8 less |
| 8 × 8 | 64 | 8 more |
| 6 × 9 | 54 | 2 less |
| 8 × 7 | 56 | same answer |
Use the drill on this page for a 60-second quiz on 7 × 8 and its neighbours, read the 7 and 8 times tables in full, or play the arcade game until the answer comes without counting.
7 times 8 is 56. In words, seven eights are fifty-six.
56 ÷ 7 = 8, because 7 × 8 = 56. The matching fact is 56 ÷ 8 = 7.
Method 1, split 8 into 5 + 3: 7 × 5 = 35 (half of 7 × 10 = 70) and 7 × 3 = 21. Add them: 35 + 21 = 56. Method 2, start from the square 7 × 7: 7 × 7 = 49, and 7 × 8 is one more 7: 49 + 7 = 56.
Yes. Multiplication can be done in either order, so 7 × 8 and 8 × 7 both equal 56.
1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 14, 28 and 56. The only ways to write 56 as a times-table fact up to 10 × 10 are 7 × 8 and 8 × 7.
Count 5, 6, 7, 8 and read it as 56 = 7 × 8: the digits 5 and 6 come straight before 7 and 8.
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.