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Secrets Of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide To Lightning Calculation And Amazing Math Tricks |  | Authors: Michael Shermer, Arthur Benjamin
Publisher: Turtleback
This item is no longer available
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 8362035
Media: Library Binding
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 1417771542
Dewey Decimal Number: 510
EAN: 9781417771547
ASIN: 1417771542
Publication Date: August 1, 2006
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Product Description
An accessible guide to mathematical calculation reveals the secrets of rapid mental calculation, memorization, and other feats of the mind, with tips on how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and work with fractions, squares, and cube roots.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Kindle Edition October 21, 2009
M. Buckman (USA)
I can't really add anything that the other good reviews haven't already mentioned, so I'll just say that the Kindle edition of the book is great. I own the printed edition and wanted the Kindle edition to make accessing this material more convenient. Since this book uses many tables, and I've seen some Kindle books that do not format tables correctly, I was hesitant to try this book since the sample did not include any of this material for me to check. However, I was pleased to see that all of the tables were formatted exactly as they are in the book. Since the tables appear to be entered as pictures rather than text, you cannot resize them, but that's not too big of a deal. The only complaint I have, and it is a minor one, is that the answers in the back are linked to the tables to which they correspond, but the tables are not linked to the answers. Otherwise, the Kindle edition is perfect.
Tips on Doing Mental Math Calculations October 8, 2009
Eric Mayforth (Houston, Texas)
Being able to do math calculations in your head has many practical benefits, including calculating a tip in a restaurant, estimating time and distance when taking trips, and it comes in handy in many other situations as well.
This book by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer is designed to improve your calculating skills. It teaches you how to add, subtract, and multiply from left to right, not right to left as we were taught in school. Performing these calculations in this way seems unnatural at first, but one can see the benefits of left-to-right calculation after working this way.
Tricks for squaring two-digit and three-digit numbers and cubing two-digit numbers are revealed, and the author shows you the algebra behind the tricks that demonstrates why they work.
Mnemonic procedures are required for the most daunting tasks introduced (squaring five-digit numbers and multiplying three-digit numbers by two-digit numbers). One would need a lot of motivation and a whole lot of practice to become proficient at calculating mentally the harder problems in the book.
Testing for divisibility, handling estimation problems, and figuring out the weekday for any date in the Gregorian calendar era are other topics that round out this volume.
Fun book, even for a 9 year old September 25, 2009
Marc Abrams (Illinois, USA)
This book was a pleasant surprise. I was able to pick up several "tricks" that make complex calculation quicker and easier to perform mentally. Definitely useful for day to day situations. My 9 year old was also able to learn some of the techniques shown.
Practical and life changing September 21, 2009
A human calculator
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is very near and dear to my heart. I have always been horrible at anything having to do with numbers and numerical concepts. I was, in short, innumerate. I decided to do something about it and I felt that playing with numbers would be a way to better familiarize myself with their properties. I bought the book and started practing from the beginning. I was doing fine until I got to squaring two digit numbers. I just couldn't do it and I became obsessed. Everywhere I went I brought a calculator with me and mentally squared all two digit numbers I saw and checked my answers. Eventually I broke through, and subsequently actually memorized all the squares up to 150. Now I am up to squaring four and five digit numbers mentally.
The book and methods do work if you practice and go step by step mastering the various stages because it all builds on itself. There's nothing more satisfying, at least to me, than having this new mental facility with numbers that leaves other people amazed. The great thing is that these are not number specific shortcuts but a systematic approach to doing any type of calculation, so if, like me, you are able to go beyond the scope of the book you can apply the framework and principles to your new calculations. I highly recommend this book, I know when I have kids I will be teaching them arithmetic using this approach. Thanks to Dr. Benjamin, I am now a human calculator, and it is so much fun.
P.S In teh book Dr. Benjamin doesn't mention this but once you are able to square four digit numbers you are also able to raise two digit numbers to the fourth power. For example 68^4 is the same thing as 4,624 ^2 because 4,624 is 68^2 you are really squaring 68 twice. Just a little bonus I thought I'd throw in. Buy this book and throw away your calculators.
A hoot September 4, 2009
Gene Venable (San Diego, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found it very enjoyable and effective to go thru the exercises. The author has a way of describing the tricks that makes you want to apply them and have a great idea how to do so -- and it works.
Some of the chapters seemed superfluous, not really focused on the math stuff. I could have used even more practice -- as it is, I repeatedly went thru the same exercises to maximize my speed.
I think this could be enough to help someone's psychology into thinking they had become a math whiz -- and that's what being a whiz is, largely a matter of attitude!
This is also an effective book to read for a distraction; it's different enough from most people's concerns that someone angry or depressed or whatever might find this a great relief.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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