What does repeated addition mean? Definition and examples

What does repeated addition mean? Repeated addition is adding the same number over and over. 

For example, 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 is a repeated addition.

Notice that 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 6 × 5

Instead of adding 5 to itself six times, you can just multiply 5 by 6 to get an answer quicker.

People may get bored when they have to add the same number repeatedly. They usually prefer to perform a multiplication, especially if there are many additions to perform.

For example, what would you rather do?

Adding 12 to itself ten times:

12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 

Multiply 12 by 10:

12 × 10

It is quicker and easier to multiply 10 by 12 to get 120!

More repeated addition examples

2 + 2 + 2 + 2  = 4 × 2 = 8

10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 5 × 10 = 50

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 × 1 = 9

10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 5 × 10 = 50

60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 =  6 × 60 = 360

How to do repeated addition with arrays

The array in the figure above is made up of triangles.

Suppose there are 3 rows and each row has 4 triangles

The repeated addition is 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 =  4 × 3 = 12

Suppose there are 4 rows and each row has 3 triangles

The repeated addition is 4 + 4 + 4 =  3 × 4 = 12