Finding the Unknown in Multiplication & Division Equations
Practice finding missing numbers in multiplication and division equations. Strengthen your understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division using whole numbers.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Find the unknown whole number that makes each equation true.
- 1.4 × ? = 28
- 2.? × 6 = 42
- 3.8 × ? = 48
- 4.? × 9 = 63
- 5.5 × ? = 45
- 6.? × 7 = 56
- 7.3 × ? = 27
- 8.? × 8 = 72
- 9.6 × ? = 54
- 10.? × 4 = 36
- 11.56 ÷ ? = 7
- 12.? ÷ 6 = 8
- 13.72 ÷ ? = 9
- 14.? ÷ 7 = 6
- 15.45 ÷ ? = 5
- 16.? ÷ 8 = 7
- 17.63 ÷ ? = 9
- 18.? ÷ 4 = 8
- 19.2 × ? = 18
- 20.? × 10 = 70
- 21.30 ÷ ? = 6
- 22.? ÷ 9 = 8
What this worksheet covers
22 multiplication problems fill this missing number page; problem 8 asks "? × 8 = 72", and the sheet stays at that level throughout. The blank moves between positions from problem to problem, so no single procedure clears the page and the numbers run as high as 72. Further down, problem 15 asks "45 ÷ ? = 5". The sheet sits inside Common Core 3.OA.4, in the grade 3 Operations & Algebraic Thinking strand.
Skills practiced
The grade 3 multiplication sequence covers multiplication facts to 10 × 10 and 12 × 12, and multiplying by multiples of ten; this page sits inside it. The skill on the page: finding the Unknown in Multiplication & Division Equations. Concretely, the sheet tests whether a student can reason backwards from a result to a missing part. Ten different answers appear across the 22 problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.
About the missing number format
The 22 problems here move the unknown around, so a student solves for a missing part as often as for a result; problem 8, "? × 8 = 72" is one of them. An unknown factor is division in disguise, so this format is where multiplication and division fact families are built.
Set A, Set B and Set C
Set A is the original sheet, and Sets B and C were derived from it problem by problem: each number became a slot redrawn with the same shape, and every answer was recomputed exactly. Where Set A's problem 12 is "? ÷ 6 = 8", Set B's is "? ÷ 9 = 3".
How to use this worksheet
Work the 22 problems straight through, then check against the key together rather than handing it back marked; asking a grade 3 student to find their own multiplication error teaches more than seeing it circled. Ask the student to re-work one missed multiplication problem from scratch on Set B rather than correcting it in place; the second attempt shows whether the method changed.
One mistake to watch for
A missing factor is found by subtracting: 6 × ___ = 42 is answered 36 instead of 7. On this grade 3 missing number, problem 9 ("6 × ? = 54") is the kind of item where it shows.
The equals sign is read as an instruction to compute something with the two visible numbers.
Read the equation as a question — "six times what is forty-two" — and connect it to the division fact it is.
Other grade 3 multiplication formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 3 Multiplication Practice, 20 problems
- Timed Drill — 3.OA.1 — Interpreting Products of Whole Numbers, 20 problems
- Mixed Review — Multiplying by Multiples of 10 — Grade 3 Practice, 20 problems
- Word Problems — 3.OA.3 — Multiplication & Division Word Problems, 22 problems
- Vertical Format — Grade 3 Multiplication Vertical Format, 20 problems
A step either side
The same format one grade down and one grade up — the easier sheet is often the faster fix when this one is not landing.
- Grade 2 Multiplication Missing Number — grade 2, 24 problems
- Grade 4 Multiplication Missing Number — grade 4, 24 problems
Missing Number sheets in other grade 3 topics
Six PDFs, no sign-up: three versions of this grade 3 multiplication missing number and three answer keys, each 22 problems long.