Multiply by is the usual form. Multiply 3 by 4 to get 12.
If there are several numbers being multiplied then multiply .... together may be used... multiply 3, 4 and 5 together to get 60.
Because when you multiply, you essentially are just adding X by itself Y times.
Example: X=3 Y=2 3+3 = 3*2 = 6 Example: X=3 Y=7 3+3+3+3+3+3+3 = 3*7 = 21
You Understand?
I'm not sure how they teach multiplying today, but when I was in school, it began with memorizing. We had to memorize the 'times tables' that had all of the numbers from zero to ten times all of the...