icon-background-square
New
New
Year 2

Explain how a factor of zero or one affects the product

I can explain how a factor of zero or one affects the product.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 2

Explain how a factor of zero or one affects the product

I can explain how a factor of zero or one affects the product.

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. When zero is a factor, the product is zero.
  2. The product of __ and zero is zero.
  3. The product of zero and __ is zero.
  4. When one of two factors is 1, the product is equal to the other factor.

Keywords

  • Zero - Zero is the number that represents no amount or objects.

  • Product - A product is the result of two or more numbers multiplied together.

Common misconception

Children may have the misconception that multiplying always makes the number bigger and therefore 0 cannot be a product.

Remind children that 0 groups of something is equal to zero. You can show this practically using groups of zero. When a factor is 1 the product is the other factor.


To help you plan your year 2 maths lesson on: Explain how a factor of zero or one affects the product, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Take time to show that multiplying by zero is always zero through groups of zero. For multiplying by 1, make distinctions between 1 group of ___ and ___ groups of 1 using cubes and counters.
speech-bubble
Teacher tip
copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
Look at the number sequence: ___, 5, 10 What is the previous multiple of 5?
Correct answer: 0
1
4
Q2.
Look at the number sequence: ___, 10, 20 What is the previous multiple of 10?
Correct answer: 0
8
9
Q3.
Look at the image which shows plates. Select the equation the image represents about the number of sweets you can see.
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: 2 × 0
2 × 1
2 × 2
Q4.
Look at the image. Select the equation the expression which represents the number of cupcakes.
An image in a quiz
2 × 0
Correct answer: 2 × 1
2 × 2
Q5.
Use the image to fill in the gap in the equation: 6 × 5 = × 10
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 3, three
Q6.
Which group of sticker sheets has most stickers?
2 pages of 10 stickers
Correct answer: 10 pages of 10 stickers
5 pages of 10 stickers

6 Questions

Q1.
Look at the expressions: 0 × 5 and 5 × 0 Which picture matches these expressions?
Correct Answer: An image in a quiz
An image in a quiz
An image in a quiz
Q2.
Look at the equations: 1 × 6 = 6 and 6 × 1 = 6 Select the statements that are true for these expressions.
Correct answer: The factors are the same.
The products are different.
Correct answer: The products are the same.
Correct answer: When a factor is 1, the product is equal to the other factor.
Q3.
Match the expressions to the correct product.
Correct Answer:0 × 1,0
tick

0

Correct Answer:1 × 1,1
tick

1

Correct Answer:1 × 0,0
tick

0

Correct Answer:0 × 2,0
tick

0

Correct Answer:2 × 1,2
tick

2

Q4.
Using what you know about 0 as a factor, what is 16 × 0 =
Correct Answer: 0
Q5.
In this puzzle, the numbers are multiplied as shown in the middle. What is the missing number?
An image in a quiz
1
7
Correct answer: 8
13
Q6.
In this puzzle, the numbers are multiplied as shown in the middle. What can we say about the missing number?
An image in a quiz
The missing number can only be 0
The missing number is less than 10
Correct answer: The missing number can be any number.
The missing number is greater than 7

Additional material

Download additional material