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Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
These simple math secrets and tricks will forever change how you look at the world of numbers.
Secrets of Mental Math will have you thinking like a math genius in no time. Get ready to amaze your friends—and yourself—with incredible calculations you never thought you could master, as renowned “mathemagician” Arthur Benjamin shares his techniques for lightning-quick calculat...more
Secrets of Mental Math will have you thinking like a math genius in no time. Get ready to amaze your friends—and yourself—with incredible calculations you never thought you could master, as renowned “mathemagician” Arthur Benjamin shares his techniques for lightning-quick calculat...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
June 3rd 2008
by Three Rivers Press
(first published August 8th 2006)
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I'm neither interested in squaring three-digit numbers in my head nor in doing mathematical magic. I'm only interested in practical mental math. I did buy this book for chapter 5; *** Good Enough; The Art of 'Guesstimation' ***. I've been doing guesstimations for many years intuitively, not very structured. This fine chapter teaches beginners the art of guesstimation while experts can go back to the basics and hone their skills while they might discover something new ... I did do so with approxi...more
Mohammed Almahfoudh
added it
The author of this book calls himself a mathemagician. He combines his love to both math and magic in this book. The book introduces creative , simple and easy ways for doing algebra. When reading this book, I realized that I was already using some of the methods introduced in the book. I have to say that even though I am not a math lover, I really enjoyed reading this book and practicing its creative calculations methods. One final note, after you're done with reading the book, check out the re...more
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The author is enthusiastic, but somehow this enthusiasm doesn't transmit to the reader. The tricks work, but I am incredibly bored by this book regardless. (might have worked better with real-life examples, but I for one am hard-pressed to think of a good real-life reason to multiply a pair of two-digit numbers in your head)
Two stars really isn't a fair rating. Had some fun adding and subtracting and then multiplying 3 digit numbers in my head.
But as the problems get more complex, my limitations became apparent. Couldn't read through the entire book. When I couldn't do what the book was suggesting, just gave up.
So no - reading this book wont suddenly make you a math genius.
There are some interesting stories with interesting perspectives, but not enough to inspire the me to p...more
But as the problems get more complex, my limitations became apparent. Couldn't read through the entire book. When I couldn't do what the book was suggesting, just gave up.
So no - reading this book wont suddenly make you a math genius.
There are some interesting stories with interesting perspectives, but not enough to inspire the me to p...more
I slowed down about half way through this book and was ready to give it 3 stars. In some cases I had discovered a fair number of the tricks on my own, or had learned them elsewhere. The processes described were sometimes just brute mathematics, requiring you compute, then hold numbers in your head and compute again.
However, the second half had some cool techniques that I didn't know, and while 4 or 5-digit multiplication problems are just plain difficult (as the author admits), 3...more
However, the second half had some cool techniques that I didn't know, and while 4 or 5-digit multiplication problems are just plain difficult (as the author admits), 3...more
I LOVE this book! It's a nerd's dream come true for me. I checked it out from the library and had it for at least two months. It pained me to give it back. I'm going to buy it soon as I get money. These tricks are so wonderful, it's a wonder they didn't use these in school.
I loved the Pi part. I can recite Pi to a hundred digits now! Always been a goal of mine too. I was content with knowing it for 20 digits, but this made it super easy to know it to a hundred. Then the figuring out t...more
I loved the Pi part. I can recite Pi to a hundred digits now! Always been a goal of mine too. I was content with knowing it for 20 digits, but this made it super easy to know it to a hundred. Then the figuring out t...more
I already knew/used a few of these tricks, but some were new and pretty smart. And there's nothing nerdier than doing math in you head on the train, so that was fun.
This one will take me a long time to get thru but it's kind of fun. I never knew that you could add two 3-digit numbers from right to left (and it's easier!). Lots of fun little tricks to doing computations in your head. Interesting read...so far.
Elizabeth
added it
I thought this might help my math challenged daughter, but it won't, you still need to get basic math. oh well, I did learn that something I have been doing for years - did they teach this as the 'new math' way back when? - his trick of adding or subtracting from the left instead of the right works because of the distributive principle of mathematics.
There were enough interesting math shortcuts in this book to keep my interest, especially those dealing with multiplication tricks, squaring, finding divisors (and why those tricks work), and figuring out any day of the week in the Gregorian Calendar. But, there were also many parts that just weren't feasible to me. Only certain people, like the author, are capable of doing all the mental tricks he covers. Some math problems were just too much to do with paper and pencil, and I'm a math person! ...more
This was a fun book. Some of it is quite intuitive, but the authors also offer some very interesting insights into mathematics, as well as mental calculation. Quite a good book.
This is just lots of fun! I'm going to buy a copy to show my kids someday how fun math can be.
See, I've been doing all kinds of math mentally all my life. My teachers would always chastise me for not showing my work. This book does nothing for you if you can already mentally add, subtract, multiply, and divide (well, of course).
super dorky of me to read this, but it was so cool!!
Good book. There are some great techniques and strategies in here. Me being a nerd, I'll definitely keep coming back to this book.
I find books like this interesting since I like doing mathematics in my head. It is interesting the number of tricks offered by the authors I had already discovered on my own. I am also eagerly learning new tricks.
You, too, can amaze your friends with these amazing tricks of mental math. All you have to do to be able to perform amazing feats in your head, without paper and pencil, is memorize about 17 million rules.
Hated math as a kid. The closest thing to math that I liked was my Logic course in college. Now, I'm interested in it for puzzle-solving and the desire to "stretch" my brain.
The first third of this book should be mandatory for all math and elementary educators. Gets a little unnecessary after that, but it was still a good read.
"Special thanks to NATALYA ST. CLAIR for typesetting the initial draft, which was partly supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation." :D
I'm loving it so far! I'll have to check this out again when I have time to practice the skills it teaches more.
I'm horrid at doing math in my head and am hoping this book will teach me a few tricks to make things easier.
Very cool book about mental math. My copy is signed by the author AND it has a magic square with my birthday.
I jealous of those who can do mental arithmetic, this book will help me get a leg up.
Robert
is currently reading it
Entertaining, no doubt. I think this is most useful for younger readers who aren't married to the way they were taught to do math in school.
For anyone who loves math, you should read this book. It will help you understand better how numbers relate to each other and why. It adds perspective. I'd recommend this book if math is something you really find interesting, or you want to look smarter than you are.
For anyone who loves math, you should read this book. It will help you understand better how numbers relate to each other and why. It adds perspective. I'd recommend this book if math is something you really find interesting, or you want to look smarter than you are.
Tarsan
marked it as to-read
Candice
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Robin Grindrod
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Braden Talbot
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