How Imagination Helps You Get Good At Mental Math?

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Imagination is the last word that comes to mind when you wish to get good at mental math. In school, students typically learn mathematics via algorithms. Because of the unyielding curriculum, most students never even get to understand the algorithms. These students typically memorize the algorithmic steps and execute them based on pattern recognition skills.

“If I am given two sides of a right triangle, I HAVE to use something called the Pythagoras theorem to calculate the third side.” — Typical Math Student

My question here is: where is the imagination in all of this? What if I told you that imagination is key for you to get good at math quickly? Not only that, but imagination also lets you have freedom. With freedom, you have more control over your method to arrive at solutions. You are no longer bossed around by rigid algorithms. Once you start this journey, mathematics turns into a game of sorts. Yes! I am indeed talking about having fun. So, without further ado, let’s go ahead and have some fun.

This essay is supported by Generatebg

Focus on What You Can Instead of What You Cannot

When you encounter your next mental math problem, imagine yourself wearing a pair of special green-coloured glasses. These green glasses serve a special purpose. They enable you to have fun while solving the problem. Furthermore, they let you focus on what you can do about the problem as the first step rather than what you cannot.

If all this sounds vague and mystical, worry not. I have you covered with a simple example. Imagine that you wish to purchase two separate products at an electronics store, and would like to quickly sum up their prices in your head. The price of the first product reads $569, and the price of the second product reads $743. Now, if I were to use conventional addition taught in schools, I would try to do something like this in my head:

Here, I work each digit out from right to left. This is fine when we are doing written math. But it is rather counter-intuitive to do in the head. This is because we read conventionally from left to right.

Instead of using this method, what if I let my imagination run wild, and focus on what I can do really fast in my head? All of a sudden, I see that $569 and $743 as several combinations of easy numbers to be added up. First, I add 500 and 700 to get to 1200. I keep in mind that I left out 69 and 43. Then, I add 60 and 40 to get 100. Now, the total gets to 1300. Finally, I remember to add 9 and 3 to get 12. The final sum is $1312.

Practice the Plays

As you start out with this approach, you’ll quickly realise how fast you can use fundamental skills to solve complex problems. As you keep practising, you will see various routes to solve the same problems. And that’s where it starts getting better.

The more you practice, the more fun it gets. And the more fun you have, the more applications you’ll find for your skills. You will start realizing that mental math is all around us. You might end up applying your skills to situations you were not even aware of before. Your green glasses give you the superpower that enables you to see the world using a different lens; a problem-solving lens. You actively engage the world using your imagination; your brain stays sharper and you are more in control of your situations. It’s a win-win-win.

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Keep an Eye Out for Skill Upgrades

Like in a videogame, you will soon realise that the game gets even more fun the more skill-points you accumulate. Furthermore, you will develop a knack for recognising and understanding your areas for improvement.

That’s right; this part happens automatically. The trick is not to focus on this during the problem-solving step, but to let it occur to you over the practice. Once you arrive at this point, keep an eye out. Anything that you can add to your arsenal will help.

As a starter, I’ll talk about a derived division method from the original ancient Egyptian division method. Let us consider the following problem: 115/3.5 =? This problem is harder than typical division to do in the head because the denominator is a decimal number.

In this method, we do not look at such problems as division problems. We look at them instead as addition/multiplication problems. Assume that you have a stone that weighs 3.5 kilograms. How many such stones should you stack to reach 115 kilograms in total? This question answers the same question as the division question does.

I know that a hundred such stones would reach 350 kilograms (3.5*100 = 350). If I stack 10 such stones, I would reach 35 kilograms. Similarly, 20 such stones would yield 70 kilograms. 30 such stones would stack up to 105 kilograms, which is 10 less than our target.

So, we need to add the number of stones that would add up to 10 kilograms to the 30 we stacked before. We know that 3.5*2 = 7, and 3.5*1 = 3.5. Based on this, I could guess the answer to be roughly 30+2.7 (I haven’t done this with a calculator as I write). But if I were to write out the precise answer, I would say 30+(10/3.5). Remember, we are doing all of this is in the head. So, the situation usually requires speed and not very high accuracy.

Have Fun

I’ve just given you the starter kit for fun math in this article. The whole world is available for you to explore. Go out there and try your new ideas. Use your imagination; use your green glasses; use your superpowers! Remember, the goal is to have fun. If you are not having fun, it is time to stop and examine what is going wrong. No matter what you have learnt in school, math is not about rigid algorithms. Math is about having fun. So, have fun!

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Further reading that might interest you: How To Run A Math Hotel With Infinite Rooms? and How To Quickly Calculate Percentages In The Head?