Sporcle multiplication tables

[Gavin Chipper]

I think it would be interesting for us to do this Sporcle quiz and compare times (for a full marks score). Last time I did it was ages ago but my best time is 1:27. I'd be willing to try and lower that if other people are up for the competition and I can't remember how good I felt it was at the time. Post your times here.

[Gavin Chipper]

OK, so I just did it again and got 1:20. Room for improvement but I'll leave it for now to see if any of you take this up.

[Thomas Cappleman]

My best was apparently 1:20, now 1:11.

[Ronan M Higginson]

OK, so I just did it again and got 1:20. Room for improvement but I'll leave it for now to see if any of you take this up.

Just got a 1:09 now, targeting under 1:00, will probably take a good few goes.

[Ronan M Higginson]

That'll do

[Gavin Chipper]

That's some insane tabling.

[Elliott Mellor]

Had a few goes and my best was 1:14. Even with my very best efforts, there was no way I could type quick enough to get sub-1 minute. Guess I've just not spent enough time in front of a computer to be able to type with the devastating efficiency that some people here apparently can!

[Thomas Carey]

1:22 on my first attempt, but yeah it's a typing speed thing more than anything, since I don't need any thinking time for these. It's like conundrums. For a lot of them, me and my opponent see them instantly, but my 'instasolve' time is somewhere between 0.8-1.2 seconds on the buzzer whereas there's some people who consistently get like 0.5-0.7, even though I imagine we both register the answer in our brains at pretty much exactly the same time.

(Obvsiouly when I say instant I don't mean the scientific definition, but you know what I mean. You look at something and your brain registers what it's supposed to be, whether that's just that 'tiger' means big orange stripy cat thing, or that 12 x 7 means 84 or that LNGINDDWI means DWINDLING.)

[Graeme Cole]

My first two attempts were over 2:00, but that was by looking at the dot that appeared in the grid and reading off the row and column. Then part way through attempt 3 I realised the actual question appeared in the same place above the grid each time, and you could just use that and ignore the grid. Using the numeric keypad for even more efficiency, my fourth attempt took 1:17.

Edit: 5th attempt: 1:11.

[Sam Cappleman-Lynes]

Had a few goes and got 1:06. No numpad.

[Gavin Chipper]

Had a few goes and got 1:06. No numpad.

Oh. I hadn't considered that. Me neither.

[Gavin Chipper]

By the way, the reason I thought of this now is that my nephews' school has got this leaderboard on the Dr Frost maths website for how many tables calculations (or whatever the term is) you can do in 30 seconds (it includes division as well so it's harder!). Top of the leaderboard is 27, and I managed to get 31, but I imagine some of you could go way beyond that as it seems I'm not that quick.

[Andres Sanchez]

I got 3:09 on my full attempt on this. Had to type on the number pad and had a few bumps but still proud of that run.

[Elliott Mellor]

Had another go this morning and got 1:11. This reminds me of a game that the kids at my mum's school do which tests how many arithmetic calculations up to 12*12 (and divisions) you can do in a minute. Some kids have gotten 90, and even 100+, and it always flummoxed me that they could do so many, since I'm about as quick as you can get at arithmetic and the very best I ever managed when I'd have a bash was 70. Came to the conclusion that these kids must spend way too much time on their devices.

[Gavin Chipper]

When I got 1:20 I thought someone really quick might get down to about 1:10 but sub minute is off the scale.

[Sam Cappleman-Lynes]

https://youtu.be/Ve71eKpjnkU

[Gavin Chipper]

https://youtu.be/Ve71eKpjnkU

Obscene.

[Ronan M Higginson]

Happy with that

[Elliott Mellor]

https://youtu.be/Ve71eKpjnkU

Obscene.

Depressing, more like.

[Gavin Chipper]

Happy with that

I'm not. I don't know how you can just lop off another 10 seconds. I thought to get it under a minute, you were just chipping away at those last bits of time!

[Ronan M Higginson]

Happy with that

I'm not. I don't know how you can just lop off another 10 seconds. I thought to get it under a minute, you were just chipping away at those last bits of time!

Certainly felt like I was doing it for longer than I actually was.