[signal11]

I'd just like to add a point to jasode's excellent point about getting hung up about orthography, which is that please don't define math using English. It's a terrible thing to do -- for example, the en-us 5x3 = 5 times 3 = 3+3+3+3+3 fails for Spanish speakers. For another, English itself is not very "standard" - some variants of British English would actually read 5x3 as "5, 3 times". Math exists outside of human language and teaching kids should adapt to this reality.

[jeremysmyth]

+1 data point: In my anglophone school system we say 5x3 as "5 multiplied by 3", not "5 times 3". These semantics lead children (and me) to think 5 + 5 + 5 instead of 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3.