What is 2 × 2 × 2?

What is 2 × 2 × 2?

• A. 8
• B. 6
• C. 4
• D. 12

Answer: (A)

Think of this as combining equal-sized groups. 2 × 2 × 2 means two groups of two groups of two. First multiply two by two to get 4, then multiply by the last two to get 8. Because multiplication is associative, the grouping doesn’t matter: (2 × 2) × 2 equals 2 × (2 × 2), and both give 8. A helpful image is a 2 by 2 by 2 cube, which contains eight small blocks. If you only had two factors or included a three, you could get 6 or 12, but here all three factors are 2, so the result is 8.

Think of this as combining equal-sized groups. 2 × 2 × 2 means two groups of two groups of two. First multiply two by two to get 4, then multiply by the last two to get 8. Because multiplication is associative, the grouping doesn’t matter: (2 × 2) × 2 equals 2 × (2 × 2), and both give 8. A helpful image is a 2 by 2 by 2 cube, which contains eight small blocks. If you only had two factors or included a three, you could get 6 or 12, but here all three factors are 2, so the result is 8.