Oh god, stem and leaf and box and whisker. I remember those from a few years ago when DS was doing them. He understands them, thankfully, so he was able to explain them to me. (I do not look forward to DD getting there.) But ...just... WHY? Why do they have to take things that are perfectly understandable and turn them into counterintuitive collections of garbage?

Turning multiplication into an addition problem the way that box thing did may make it easier to come up with an answer (for people who haven't memorized their multiplication tables), but it doesn't in any way teach one how to multiply, or what multiplication actually is.