Jeff King [off-list ref] writes:
quoted
*1* I have a slight suspicion that this is cultural, i.e. how
arithmetic is taught in grade schools. When an apple costs 30 yen
and I have 5 of them, I was taught to multiply 30x5 to arrive at
150, not 5x30=150, and I am guessing that is because the former
matches the natural order of these two numbers (cost, quantity) in
the language I was taught.
You might be right. I was trying to figure out what is "natural" for me
in these cases, but after thinking about it for 2 minutes, I'm pretty
sure anything resembling "natural" is lost as I try to out-think myself. :)
Do native English speakers (or more in general Europeans) think of
the apple example more like "5 apples, 30 cents each", and do 5x30?