Wuick Mathematics Trick By Benjamin Pdf

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 calculations and amazing number tricks. This book will teach you to do math in your head faster than you ever thought possible, dramatically improve your memory for numbers, and—maybe for the first time—make mathematics fun.

Yes, even you can learn to do seemingly complex equations in your head; all you need to learn are a few tricks. You'll be able to quickly multiply and divide triple digits, compute with fractions, and determine squares, cubes, and roots without blinking an eye. No matter what your age or current math ability, Secrets of Mental Math will allow you to perform fantastic feats of the mind effortlessly. This is the math they never taught you in school.

Also available as an eBook

Mathematics

Nonfiction

Science

Education

279 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Arthur Benjamin holds a PhD from Johns Hopkins University and is a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, where he has taught since 1989. He is a noted "mathemagician," known for being able to perform complicated computations in his head. He is the author, most recently, of The Secrets of Mental Math, and has appeared on The Today Show and The Colbert Report. Benjamin has been profiled in such publications as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Scientific American, Discover, and Wired.

Ratings & Reviews

Community Reviews

Author 1 book 7,699 followers

Edited October 22, 2019

Some years ago, on a whim, I picked up Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer. In that book, the author—a hitherto unremarkable journalist—details how he learned memory techniques that allowed him to recall hundreds of digits of pi, to learn the names of dozens of strangers in minutes, and to memorize the order of an entire deck of cards in the amount of time it takes me to tie my shoes.

I was completely captivated. The idea that someone could so radically augment his mental prowess using ancient techniques appealed deeply to me. Soon I set about teaching myself some of these methods. The most famous and powerful is the so-called 'memory palace': converting information into images, and then placing these images in a familiar space. Using this method, I was able to memorize well over one hundred digits of pi. I even managed to learn the order of a few decks of cards.

This was impressive in itself, and a testament to the efficacy of these techniques. Even so, learning the techniques was itself time-consuming, and without significant practice I was sluggish both in committing to memory and recalling information. You cannot become a memory athlete without significant practice. What was worse, these systems only really worked with certain types of information. The technique for memorizing cards, for example, was useless when it came to remembering German vocabulary. So, after a few weeks, I gave it up.

I bought this book during my brief memory-trick craze, but my enthusiasm had worn off before I began it. Thus it languished on my shelves for many years—until now.

Though this book is technically co-authored, it seems obvious that Arthur Benjamin was the driving force behind it. Michael Shermer, the founder of the Skeptics Society, contributed an afterword in which he argues (unpersuasively) that these mathematical tricks and techniques somehow aid in being skeptical—though a quick-calculating conspiracy theorist strikes me as perfectly plausible. Benjamin, meanwhile, contributes the real meat of the book: ways to speed up mental calculation. He himself is a master of these techniques, which he uses for a sort of numerical magic show (there are many clips online).

Benjamin has done a wonderful job in compiling this little handbook. The mathematical tools are simple, easy to use, and effective. I had become so reliant on the calculator in my phone that it was a relief and, if you can believe it, a real pleasure to return to doing sums and products myself. The world of numbers can be unexpectedly fascinating, revealing unusual patterns, connections, and symmetries. I must admit, however, that I mostly skipped the last section on large multiplication problems, since the amount of practice required to properly execute them exceeded my interest in being a human calculator.

Benjamin's feats in calculation, like Foer's feats in memorization, show what the simple human brain can do when aided with techniques and training—achieving abilities so uncanny that it can seen like magic to the uninitiated. To me, this fact alone is cause for hopefulness, since it reveals to us the transformative power of expertise.

math

195 reviews

Edited January 16, 2012

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 the weekday when you have a date. Awesome!

The multiplying is really neat too. As you can tell I just LOVE this book! I'm cheesing writing this. lol! Go read it. If you only read one part, I suggest the Pi bit. :)

2 reviews 1 follower

December 27, 2012

This book helped me to re-build a fresh perspective on doing math in my head. He builds on a central idea of breaking down seemingly complex computations into simple, manageable ones. He then gives you new ways of seeing numbers such that, once these various patterns become familiar, you are able to employ tricks to getting the math done quickly. One of his first examples is how to square a two-digit number that ends in 5.

"... you need to remember only two things. 1. The answer begins by multiplying the first digit by the next higher digit. 2. The answer ends in 25. For example, to square the number 35, we simply multiply the first digit (3) by the next higher digit (4), then attach 25. Since 3 × 4 = 12, the answer is 1225. Therefore, 35 × 35 = 1225."

603 reviews 25 followers

Edited August 19, 2015

As a nerd who is desperate for attention but also very lazy, this book was a godsend! Arthur Benjamin's mental math tips are very easy to learn, yet still appear impressive to the casual observer. Towards the end of the book, there are some real showstoppers, but even if one only gets halfway through the tricks, you could still impress people at a party (a very lame party).

math

182 reviews 63 followers

Edited July 24, 2012

Foreword by Bill Nye?

BILL NYE?!?

Watching him was definitely the greatest time I had in science class. Knowing that he advocates this book (or was bought out to support it) is pretty much worthy of my attention.

No question there is definitely useful (to the point of being necessary) information in this book. In the first chapter (ironically Chapter 0), I was introduced to a smorgasbord of various tricks that became immediately useful: the rule of multiplying 11s, squaring numbers that end in 5, multiplying two digit numbers with the same first digit and second digits that sum to 10 (which, I admit was a little bit harder to have explained but as soon as I got it, it became ridiculously valuable). Beyond that, I learned how to do pretty much all math in my head. Squaring any two digit number above 30 was something I thought was reserved for savants (like the guy from Pi).

I feel nerdy as hell for praising the book this much but it really is that good. You might not want to be bogged down with explanations of how to square three digit numbers in your head but I would recommend anyone to read Chapter 0, then see how they like it, or evaluate if it's going to be useful to them.

59 reviews 5 followers

Edited June 13, 2011

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 and 4 digit squares are more doable than I would've thought, and (perfect) cube roots of numbers with up to 6 digits are so easy it's fun. With the neat mathematical "magic tricks" at the end to cap it off, this book was back up to 4 stars for me.

non-fiction

27 reviews 4 followers

Edited May 23, 2010

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 practice the "tricks" and yes I expect the average person will need to practice.

So in fairness the 2 stars represents the bitterness I felt upon failing to become an overnight mathemagician...but who knows, maybe you can do it!

Author 1 book 3 followers

July 27, 2007

"Special thanks to NATALYA ST. CLAIR for typesetting the initial draft, which was partly supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation." :D

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mathematics

Edited September 12, 2016

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)

89 reviews 14 followers

Edited August 18, 2021

Useful tips for speeding up the calculations, because math is in the understanding - the numbers are just the medium of choice.

Couldn't digest all of the stuff (because school's mentally-taxing enough), but will surely use it as a compendium for the future.

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