She bought 10 hammers for 3 cents each.
Think about this. If she bought only one hammer for 3 cents, how much did that cost?
Obviously it cost 3 cents.
Now if she bought two hammers, how much would that cost?
The first was 3 cents. The second was 3 cents. So it cost her 3+3 = 6 cents total.
3 + 3 is the same thing as saying 2 x 3.
So if you can figure it out for two hammers, you can figure it out for ten hammers or a hundred hammers. :)