Count to 99 on Your Fingers

If your learning style leans towards the visual or physical rather than logical or mathematical, you might have an easier time doing calculations using your fingers, rather than in your head. But you only have ten fingers, so that limits you to very simple calculations, right? Actually, you can count to 99 with your fingers using chisanbop, an abacus-like finger counting method.[1] Once you have that down, you can move onto complex calculations, such as Multiply Two Digit by Two Digit Numbers (Using the Count to 99 on Your Fingers Method).

Steps

  1. Note that the following pictures show the correct fingers extended and the rest curled for demonstration purposes. To properly use these techniques, however, hold your fingers straight out and place the correct fingers on a flat surface. Do not curl your fingers under your hands when you actually do the counting.
  2. Learn to count to 9 on the right hand.

    1. Start with the index finger, which is One.
    2. Count out once for each finger towards your little finger.

      Two.
    3. Three
    4. Four
    5. Your thumb by itself equals Five
    6. Continue counting out with the next four fingers, one at a time.

      Six.
    7. Seven
    8. Eight
    9. Nine
  3. Learn to count by 10s on the left hand.

    1. Using the same technique as above, start with the index finger, which is Ten.
    2. Count out by Tens for each finger towards your little finger.

      Twenty
    3. Thirty
    4. Forty
    5. Your left thumb by itself equals Fifty.
    6. Continue counting out with the next four fingers, one at a time.

      Sixty.
    7. Seventy
    8. Eighty
    9. Ninety

Examples

  1. Nineteen
  2. Twenty-one
  3. Forty-seven
  4. Ninety-nine

Tips

  • This finger counting method gives children a way to learn more complex concepts in math than counting from 1 to 10. They will probably do better if they have been taught this method first.
  • Count on your fingers and count from one to 99.
  • Learn to count binary, apply it to finger counting, and you can count to (2^10)-1 = 1023.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  • Fingermath by Edwin M. Lieberthal and Peter K. Gurau
  1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisanbop
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