This multiplication square arises from work with Joseph Howse, author of Maths or Magic? Simple Vedic Arthmetic Methods. London 1976 in which the impor- tance of the awareness of pattern in number is made evident.

Having found the answer at the cross roads of the vertical and horizontal columns, we then reduce all numbers to a single digit [e.g. 81 = 8 + 1 = 9] and to further emphasise the pattern, we colour each digit [1, 4 and seven as ‘primaries’, 2, 5 and 8 as ‘secondaries’ and 3, 6 and 9 as the ‘scaffold’.

This and other such ‘games’ when applied within number can reveal some surprising results [see other sheets, e.g. Pascal’s Triangle]].