How many times have you heard someone say ‘I can’t do mental arithmetic’?
Perhaps it is something that you have said yourself many times . . . I know I have!
The problem, I have found, is not ‘I can’t do mental arithmetic’ but ‘I don’t know how to do mental arithmetic’.
This certainly was the case for me.
Let me show you what i mean.
If I were to ask you to multiply 43 x 11. Would you be able to do it? How long would it take you to do it?
If you asked me that 1 year ago, I would have said ‘I can do it but it will take me a while’. You see, like many people, I believed that I couldn’t do mental arithmetic.
Now, let me show you how to do 43 x 11 in your head in less than 1 second (it will take you less than 1 second once you know how to do it).
1. separate the 4 and the 3 thus: 4 __ 3 (because we are going to put a number in between the 4 and the 3),
2. add 4 + 3 to get: 4 + 3 = 7,
3. place the 7 between the 4 and the 3 to get: 4 7 3,
That is your answer: 43 x 11 = 473
How easy is that?
Practice on the following and see...