Imagine how you would impress your boss and friends giving almost instantaneously answers to big math calculations while they were still grabbing their cell phones for that.
Do you need to trust the seller upon the change calculations when you buy something? Not so long ago I did because I was pretty embarrassed to make calculations using my fingers or paper for simple subtractions. The funny thing is that I always liked math: solving problems, equations and such, I even have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. But when it came to numbers the situation was pretty much different. I always had big trouble multiplying stuff like 13 x 29, or subtractions 421 from 217.
I really thought that I simple wasn't gifted enough or had some born deficiency in this kind of area. The turning point was when I found a law student, friend of mine which had outstanding speed and ease with calculations. It was amazed how he could make complicated math operations in day-to-day situations. I was very intrigued how could someone from the social sciences area be so good at this while I from the exact sciences was so terrible.
Of course I had to question him about this and so he revealed to me his "secret". Well, it turned out that he was no such genius, the thing is he used a technique for calculations with turn out to be a system called the Vedic System, which I didn't knew until then. I googled about it and found tons of materials trying to teach it. Some of the stuff was good but most of them was incomplete and lacked examples, some was so bad looking that passed no credibility at all.
Upon further googling I came across a short e-book which solved my problem, it's called "Fun with Figures" from Kenneth Williams and Murdo Macleod:
Fun with Figures e-book
The book is small, concise and very well designed. It has less than 80 pages and can be read in a weekend. It teaches in a clear manner with illustrations so that anyone can understand including kids. But what I really liked about it and made me buy it instead of the free Google material was the big number of examples. I've always though that they are what really makes the difference in education material and this one really made it good.
I really thought that I simple wasn't gifted enough or had some born deficiency in this kind of area. The turning point was when I found a law student, friend of mine which had outstanding speed and ease with calculations. It was amazed how he could make complicated math operations in day-to-day situations. I was very intrigued how could someone from the social sciences area be so good at this while I from the exact sciences was so terrible.
Of course I had to question him about this and so he revealed to me his "secret". Well, it turned out that he was no such genius, the thing is he used a technique for calculations with turn out to be a system called the Vedic System, which I didn't knew until then. I googled about it and found tons of materials trying to teach it. Some of the stuff was good but most of them was incomplete and lacked examples, some was so bad looking that passed no credibility at all.
Upon further googling I came across a short e-book which solved my problem, it's called "Fun with Figures" from Kenneth Williams and Murdo Macleod:
Fun with Figures e-book
The book is small, concise and very well designed. It has less than 80 pages and can be read in a weekend. It teaches in a clear manner with illustrations so that anyone can understand including kids. But what I really liked about it and made me buy it instead of the free Google material was the big number of examples. I've always though that they are what really makes the difference in education material and this one really made it good.
However the video just shows a very basic example, in the book it shows real complicated ones made simple.
Although it's not free the price paid a lot from the time I wasted learning from poor and confusing materials.
After reading and practicing it's techniques I've vastly improved my math skills, and the funny thing is that people think I make fast calculations because I'm some sort of genius from the exact sciences area. Is a skill that very very few people have and will definitely make you distinguished.
Although it's not free the price paid a lot from the time I wasted learning from poor and confusing materials.
After reading and practicing it's techniques I've vastly improved my math skills, and the funny thing is that people think I make fast calculations because I'm some sort of genius from the exact sciences area. Is a skill that very very few people have and will definitely make you distinguished.
More information about this please visit FASTMATH.
