I started reading about mental math before I had heard of memory techniques. The book I have is called Secrets of Mental Math by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer. I’ve only read a couple of chapters but I’m interested in pursuing it.
Anyone else interested in mental math? Are there other books on the subject you recommend?
Yes, I’m interested. I think the type of person interested in memory techniques and memorizing cards and numbers and binaries is attracted to quick calculating techniques. Ben Pridmore is a quick calculating devotee (and competitor)
I have an iPhone/iPad app called Mathemagics which is very good. A few years ago I started to make my way through Benjamin and Shermer’s book but lost steam (it was going well and I amazed myself). Benjamin is a mnemonics enthusiast. There is video on YouTube with Benjamin doing quick math for an audience. It re-sparked my interest.
Btw, Arthur Benjamin has a video Great Courses “Secret of Mental Math” course: The Great Courses
There is a section about mental speed math in Ben Pridmore’s book, but I haven’t worked through it yet. I think his method is different than mentioned in Benjamin’s and Shermer’s book…
Trachtenberg has a good system for multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. There is an out-of-print book you can read, but the internet has a few resources–not perfect resources but good resources. I have an app called Mercury Math which is basically Trachtenberg. You can use the Major System to keep the numbers in your head. Mental math is basically the ability to visualize the numbers in your mind.
This is a book that I’ve gotten a great deal out of,
It’s filled with tons of structured drills, the idea being that over time you’ll develop “number sense,” something that used to be common among bookkeepers, grocers, shop clerks, etc. before calculating machines became widely available. It is a ton of hard work, though, which will put off most people.
Looks good – I will add it to my reading list.
Can someone tell me what the fundamental skills are. I’m guessing the ability to add single digits easily.
What else?
Thanks
Here is a page listing some elements:
Peepz,
I developed a website where you can practice your mental math and put a ranking. So show how quick you are!
It is appreciated,
Greetz Chip
I would love to. What is the website address?
If you have strong association for digit pairs (eg. PAO, major) do you think it affects your “normal”, logical mental calculations?
Does it helps with some subconsciuos connections or does the now unwanted images disturb you in some (sub)consciuos level? Or do you think it affects you in some other way?
I found it a good book. A good start. For me it wasnt difficult to follow. But…This was my first book. Maybe you can find better books about mental math?
I don’t know, but I think it could probably only help with mental math, because images are easier to remember than numbers.
For a while, I was experimenting with keeping track of my shopping cart price at the supermarket using only my mnemonic images. Each of my images has a one syllable pronunciation, so I would calculate like this:
$2.40 + $1.99 = $4.39
would be done with this pronounciation:
U-RO plus I-PUH equals A-MUH
Then I would hold “A-MUH” ($4.39 – flag and Marshal stack) in my mind until I added the next item. Then I would see how close my final mnemonic image was to the check out price. I really should start doing that again… 
I don’t think it helps with the calculation, but it might be good practice for combining mnemonic images with mental calculation.
Forgot to post the adress: calculationrankings.com
I’ve just noticed the Shifengshou rapid calculation from above link. It’s really impressive. i see that it is different from other mental math method: vedic math, abacus or trachtenberg. Does anyone here know about the method of Prof. Shifengshou? Here’s the link for your reference: http://www.sfsrc.com/ & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEtb7dHqVE.
It’s crazy why i not know about this earlier! Sadly no material in english is available now. Thanks a lot for your opinon.
Looks interesting. I found an example here::
http://web.archive.org/web/20091028191722/http://shifengshou.com/english/htm/shifenngshou_what.htm
… and created a new wiki page on Shi Fengshou.
I found an English site:
http://www.sfsrc.com/En/Index.aspx?UserInfo_ID=217687
“English translation of new textbooks are now under preparation”
:bigsmile: :love: Thanks Josh. Great searching! I am thinking of learning chinese to understand more about this …i wish that someone here will post or guide the full details of this method
I’ve sent them an email asking about the English translations. I will post an update if they reply to me.
i have a copy in chinese. if anyone is interested or willing to make a translation in English plz send mail to me.