Six Times Seven? Never Learn Your Times Tables!

I read in a newspaper that the UK government wants to test all children on times tables. Well I have never memorised the times tables and it has only been a benefit to me. Instead of focusing on memorising multiplications (of which there are infinitely many), by actually doing manipulations in my head, each time, it has helped me understand numbers better than most people.

For example how to do 6 * 7?

6 * 7
(5 + 1) * 7
7 * 5 + 7
7 / 2 * 10 + 7
3.5 * 10 + 7
35 + 7
42

No need to memorise 6*7, ever. You'll never get stuck as long as you understand numbers. And yes, I still do this each and every time. I'm able to run through the steps very quickly in my head in a more visual way. For instance, when I see the number 6, my head automatically views it as 5+1, and then 5 is seen as half of 10. I view numbers in terms of other numbers and can see how they relate to one another. I only remember the basic (usually self-evident) relations, and everything else is built up from there.