>>20686189again, you're trying to rationalize Math using English.
Math is not English. Try learning another language, it will help you understand translations.
* is not necessarily "multiply" in English, it's better translated as "is how many times the following value is repeated:"
for example 9 * 3 = 9 is how many times 3 is repeated. a better term would be "scaled", but it's more complicated to translate.