Multiplication chart, 1 to 15

What this table holds

225 products in a fifteen by fifteen grid, the smallest 1 and the largest 225 in the far corner. The sheet carries 255 numerals in all, which is the 225 products plus the fifteen printed along the top and the fifteen printed down the side. They are set at 14.5 point inside 34 ruled lines, on one sheet of A4.

Of the 225 products, 89 are distinct, which is fewer than half. The rest are the same numbers over again on the other side of the diagonal, where a times b meets b times a. Fifteen of the cells lie on that diagonal itself, holding 1, 4, 9 and the rest of the squares up to 225, and each of those is printed once.

Taking it

PDF, PNG or SVG. Range, paper, upright or landscape, and printed cells or empty ones are settings on this page, and the sheet is recomputed and redrawn before it is handed over.

Half a point

Fifteen is the size that costs almost nothing, and that is the honest argument for it over the standard chart. Three more rows and three more columns take the sheet from 144 products to 225, better than half as many again, and the press pays for that with half a point of type: 14.5 here, against 15 on the chart to twelve. The ruling goes from 28 lines to 34. It is still one sheet of A4, and the numerals are still within half a point of full size.

The next size up is where the cost turns real. A chart to twenty sets its numerals at 11.05 point, three and a half points below this one, and a chart to thirty sets them at 7.48. Between twelve and fifteen the press is barely charging anything. After fifteen it charges steeply, because the paper stays exactly the same size while the number of cells to be fitted onto it does not.

So this is the chart for the case where you want more of the table than the standard sheet carries and do not want to give up the type size to get it. Beyond it you do give it up, and the type sizes above are what would be handed over in exchange for the extra rows.