Skip Counting

Skip counting deals with counting by a number, other than 1. For example, skip count by 2, skip count by 3, skip count by 5, 10 or 100. Skip counting is taught to us in our primary classes while learning counting numbers. It helps kids to count the objects quickly.

The major application of skip counting is the multiplication tables or multiples of numbers, where we skip count each number to get its multiple. For example, to find the table of 5, we have to skip count by 5 to get its multiples such as 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and so on.

Let us learn here the examples of skip counting.

What is Skip Counting?

Skip counting is a method of counting numbers by adding a number every time to the previous number. For example, skip counting by 2, we get 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and so on. Hence we get the series of even numbers here.

Forward Skip Counting

Here, we count the number in the forward direction of a number. It means we skip count for positive numbers. Skip counting has a major application in real life. Suppose we have to count marbles which are in 100s of numbers. Counting one-one marble will consume more time. Hence, if we skip count them by any big number such as 10 or 20, then we can quickly count them.

Let us learn here how to skip count by different numbers.

Skip Counting By 2

Here, we add the number 2 for each counting, in such a manner that the counting is represented in alternate numbers. Suppose we start counting from 2, then, skipping the count by 2 for each step we can write as;

Skip Counting By 3

Here, we add the number 3 for each step of counting.

Skip Counting By 4

When we skip count natural numbers by 4 then we add 4 at each step. Here it is how to do:

So we can skip count 4 we got a table of 4.

Skip Counting By 5

When we count skipping 5 numbers in between, then we skip count by 5. Let us start counting by skipping 5 and write the succeeding numbers.

Skip Counting By 10

When we skip by10 in between while counting the numbers, then it is said to skip counting by 10. Skip count by 10 is very easy and quick to do. See the below-given example to understand it better.

Skip Counting by Bigger Numbers

Let us learn here to skip count by some bigger numbers such as 25, 50, 100.

Skip Counting by 25

When we have hundreds of things to count we can also skip count them by 25. It will help in counting fast. Skip count by 25 is done as:

You can practice writing more numbers in forward skip counting by 25.

Skip Counting by 50

Skip counting by 50 means counting the objects after every 50 objects. It can be done as:

Skip Counting By 100

If we have to count objects in a very large number, say 1000, then we can skip count by 100. Let us understand counting by 100 with the help of few examples, given below;

In the above counting, you can see the digit at the hundredth place changes after each count.

Skip Counting Table (2 to 10)

Let us prepare a table where we will see the skip counted numbers from 2 to 10.

This table resembles the multiplication table from 2 to 10.

Backward Skip Counting

Students can practice backward counting also, towards negative numbers. Suppose we want to skip count by -2 then,

-2, -4, -6, -8, -10, ….

Mathematically, it is possible to do, but in real life, we don’t skip count by negative numbers.

But for the practice, you can skip count by -3,-4,-5 or any negative number.

Skip Counting Examples

Q.1: If there are 20 marbles, then which of the following will help to count fast?

• Skip count by 1
• Skip count by 2

Solution: Skip count by 2 will help to count fast than skip count by 1. It will take half of the time to count the marbles rather than counting one by one.

Q.2: If there are 40 balls in a basket, and we need to skip count it by 5. Then how many times do we need to count the balls?

Solution: Given, number of balls = 40

If we skip count by 5, then  we have,

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

Thus, we will skip count by 5, 8 times here.

Practise Questions

1. How to skip count by 9?
2. Skip count by 15.
3. Suppose there are 100 marbles. Skip count these marbles by 20.
4. Skip count by -10.

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