There are only ten numbers, these are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 this means that one doesn't have to add any sum whose result is greater than 18. How hard can that be? The times tables multipling these numbers together results in 100 facts that one has to remember... but 10 of these facts [0 x anything] gives the answer of 0, and half of the remaining 90 facts are the same as the other half [2 x 3 = 3 x 2]. So now we're down to 45 facts that need memorising. Within these 45 facts there are patterns, so they are not random. There is the rule for the 9 times table wherein the digits of any multiple add up to 9. Multiples of any even number is an even number. Multiples within the 5 times table end in either a 0 or a 5. So these 45 facts are not just random. Put them to music, so that the tune prompts recall and learning one's times tables becomes easy.