(Music plays)

An animated clip shows a big orange X on a blue background. It explodes and letters and numbers come out of it in all directions and float around.

Mathemagician Eric appears on screen. He’s in his mid-twenties. He has short dark brown hair and a beard. He wears a red T-shirt with the show’s logo, blue jeans and red Tennis shoes.

The screen turns red and the logo of the show appears next. It reads "MathXplosion." Meanwhile, cones, cubes and dices float around it.

Kids voices sing a song with lyrics that go
WHAT A HIT
IT'S NOT A TRICK
IT'S MATHXPLOSION
JUST FOR YOU
COOL AND NEW
MATHXPLOSION!

The episode starts with Eric standing in a workroom, this time he’s gardening.

Eric says OH, HEY.
IN GARDENS, YOU MAY COME
ACROSS BEAUTIFUL LOOKING
LATTICE LIKE THIS.
BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT
THERE'S AN AMAZING TRICK
FOR TWO-DIGIT
MULTIPLICATION USING
LATTICES THAT WILL HAVE
FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINKING
YOU'RE TOTALLY MAGICAL?
AND IT'S HUNDREDS
OF YEARS OLD.

(music plays)

He puts a small fence on one of the vases and then takes two tennis balls.

He says MULTIPLICATION.

(music plays)

Now Eric is ready for a new project.

He says PRESENTING THE LATTICE!

He shows the graphic of a grid on the floor.

He says WELL, IT'S REALLY ONLY A
SIMPLE 2 X 2 GRID, WITH
THESE FABULOUS SUPER LONG
DIAGONAL LATTICE LINES.
SO HERE'S HOW YOU DO THIS:
TAKE A TWO-DIGIT NUMBER,
SAY, 34, AND YOU WANT TO
MULTIPLY IT BY ANOTHER
TWO-DIGIT NUMBER, LIKE 55.

A caption on screen reads "34 times 55."

He says WATCH THIS.
WE ARE GOING TO USE
THIS LATTICE GRID
TO HELP US MULTIPLY.
HERE WE GO.
YEAH.
I'M GOING TO START WITH
THIS FOUR AND THIS FIVE.
MULTIPLY THEM TOGETHER
AND YOU GET 20.


He adds two number 4 on top and two number 5 to the side. Then combines the boxes and comes up with the numbers that he writes inside. The first one is 20.

He says SO I'LL PUT THE 2 ON ONE
SIDE OF THE LATTICE, AND
THE 0 ON THE OTHER SIDE.
SEE HOW THE LATTICE LINES
SEPARATE THE TWO DIGITS?
THEN, OVER HERE, 4
MULTIPLIED BY 5 IS 20.
SO AGAIN, I'LL PUT A 2 ON
ONE SIDE OF THE DIAGONAL,
AND A 0 ON THE OTHER.
3 MULTIPLIED BY
5 GIVES ME 15.
AND 3 MULTIPLIED BY 5
GIVES ME 15 ONCE AGAIN.

So now the grid has two rows that read 15 and 20.

He says WHEW.
THE LATTICE GRID
IS FILLED IN.
NOW, HERE COMES THE
SUPER AMAZING PART.
BEGINNING AT THE BOTTOM
RIGHT CORNER, START TO ADD
THE DIGITS UP IN EACH
DIAGONAL COLUMN.
THE FIRST ONE IS EASY
BECAUSE IT'S A 0 BY ITSELF.
THIS IS THE 1'S SECTION.
THIS NEXT COLUMN
REPRESENTS THE TENS.
SO THE 0, 2, AND 5 ARE
REALLY 0, 20, AND 50.
ADD THOSE UP, AND YOU
GET 70, OR 7 TENS.
NEXT IS THE HUNDREDS COLUMN.
WE HAVE 2, 5, 1.
ADD THEM ALL UP AND
YOU GET A TOTAL OF 800.
HOW MANY HUNDREDS IS THAT?
YOU GOT IT, 8.
I'LL WRITE THAT DOWN HERE.
AND OVER HERE IS A 1 ALL BY
ITSELF IN THE THOUSANDS COLUMN.
HOW MANY THOUSANDS
ARE THERE?
YEP, JUST ONE.
READ ALL THOSE NUMBERS
TOGETHER AND...

As he writes down the numbers, they blink on screen.

Next, he says THERE WE GO.
IN A SNAP, I NOW KNOW THAT
34 MULTIPLIED BY 55 EQUALS
1,870.

(music plays)

Eric draws a circle and colours it inside. He taps on it and a new clip plays. A world animated map appears on screen. Next, it concentrates on Italy and the Middle East. As mentioned, pictures of the different cultures appear.

Eric says LATTICE MULTIPLICATION HAS
BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES.
THE STORY GOES THAT IT
WAS BROUGHT TO ITALY
FROM THE MIDDLE EAST.
THERE, IT WAS
CALLED SHABACH.
AND IN ITALY, IT
WAS CALLED GELUSIA.
LATTICE MULTIPLICATION,
IT'S NOT MAGIC, IT'S MATH.

A big explosion brings the show’s logo back on the screen.

(music plays)

The end credits roll.

Produced by GAPC Entertainment in association with TVOKids.

Copyright GAPC Entertainment (MathPlosion) Incorporated, 2016.