It’s really helpful for quadratic factoring, too, since knowing at a glance that –56 is ±7 × ±8 keeps your working memory free to actually focus on the mathematical skills/concepts/problem.

It’s basically “common core” math (in the US), or just “updated curriculum” everywhere else in the world. Turns out that building fluency with math through play and number decomposition is incredibly powerful for long-term learning.