Doing Simple Math in Your Head

by W.J. Howard

Almost all adults suffer a little math anxiety, especially when it comes to everyday problems they think they should be able to figure out in their heads. Want to figure the six percent sales tax on a $34.50 item? A 15 percent tip for a $13.75 check? The carpeting needed for a 12-by-17-foot room? No one learns how to do these mental calculations in school, where the emphasis is on paper-and-pencil techniques. With no math background required and no long list of rules to memorize, this book teaches average adults how to simplify their math problems, provides ample real-life practice problems and solutions, and gives grown-ups the necessary background in basic arithmetic to handle everyday problems quickly.

Genres: Mathematics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Reg Aubry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, yeah - where was this book when I was a boy?!
I own a half a dozen or more speed math/mental math/math shortcuts book, but this is my favorite. A really cool layout, and great explanations.

For example, breaking into factors before multiplying:

16 x 35 = 16 x (5 x 7)
= (16 x 5) x 7
= 80 x 7 = 560

or

16 x 35 = (2 x 8) x 35
= (2 x 35) x 8
= 70 x 8 = 560

Anyway, it's a small book - 130 p., with index, printed and bound in landscape mode, with good tips on how to simplify numbers in your head (or on paper, if you prefer).

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't finish reading this book, but I purchased it. It shows simple ways of accomplishing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Ways that were obvious once I read about them, but which never occurred to me in the past. I used some of the tricks to develop a math program to "catch up" my future math students. Great book.

[Nan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Howard sometimes complicates the simple, but he did help me shake some cobwebs loose. I like his approach to fractions. From now on, I will break trickier numbers into their composites.