What is Skip Counting? Definition and Examples

What is skip counting? Skip counting is counting by a given whole number bigger than 1.

Skip counting by twos

Skip counting by twos will start with 2 and then continue with 4, 6, 8, and so on.

You are basically skipping or not saying the numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, and so on. 

Skip counting by fives

Skip counting by fives will start with 5 and then continue with 10, 15, 20, and so on.

You are basically skipping or not saying any of the numbers between 5 and 10, between 10 and 15, between 15 and 20, and so on. 

Skip counting by tens

Skip counting by tens will start with 10 and then continue with 20, 30, 40, and so on.

Why is skip counting important in arithmetic?

1. Skip counting can help you count things quickly. For example, instead of counting 100 items one by one, you could make groups of five items in your mind. As a result, you could count to 100 faster. 

2. You can use skip counting as a way to figure out a multiplication fact. For example, to figure out 5 × 8, skip count by 5 to get an answer.

5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40

You could also skip count by 8 five times. However, I think it is a little harder.

8, 16, 24, 32, 40

3. You can quickly get an answer to a subtraction problem. For example, to do 100 - 66, you could skip count by twos from 66 to 70 and then skip count by tens from 70 to 100.

From 66 to 70, add 4 and from 70 to 100, add 30. The answer is 34.