Speed Mathematics Simplified (Dover Books on Mathematics) Reprint Edition

Absolutely amazing book if you practice what the book shows you, you will eee improvements

great learning help

Not bad. There are elements to committing speed math to memory. It has these.

I am in whole hearted agreement with the reviews already listed on this marvelous little book and the suggestions made about its usage and potential impact; just thought I would add my own personal experience.I am an undergraduate Maths major who managed to slip through elementary, middle, high-school, and even some of college without ever learning my times tables or memorizing the first 25 or so possible additions and subtractions like most American school children. I spent years thinking that I was terrible at Math and hated it in high school; partly from frustration with constant arithmetic errors (supposedly the easiest field in Mathematics) and partly, like most others, from just awfully lacking curriculum and uninspired teachers.Some time ago I stumbled upon this little volume in a used bookstore and I never looked back. Developing a comprehensive and unified method of arithmetic based upon the modern Japanese Soroban techniques, Stoddard does us all a huge favor and makes arithmetic something quick, easy, and satisfyingly, consistently, accurate.With wit and clarity he lays forth streamlined methods of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Results verification; and shows one how to combine his methods with the best of the standard short-cuts (factoring, aliquots, etc...). A thorough working of this book will leave anyone who grew up under the standard American methods of arithmetic with feelings of anger and frustration at all the wasted hours of figuring, all jumbled with feelings of clarity and elation in their new found powers. You will literally not need a calculator ever again for any basic operational calculation; more difficult extended calculations will be able to be figured (and checked for accuracy!!) on paper more quickly than one could ever type the digits into a calculator.We certainly need, right now, starting today, yesterday even, to immediately begin introducing these methods in our elementary and middle schools, and to make them standard throughout high school, college, and our culture in general. Every one should have the pleasure of knowing how easy it actually is to deal with numbers.

3 stars because it IS well thought out and will certainly greatly help your understanding of numbers.. But I was very disappointed. I was looking for a good "mental mathematics" book - but practically every exercise/procedure requires the use of a pad and pencil (or keeping track of calculations on your fingers). In today's world I use a calculator for the important stuff. I don't want a book of calculation "tricks" but neither do I have any interest in dealing with pencil and paper (or playing with my fingers).

If you never mastered arithmetic in school then you're lucky; you can learn this beautiful system instead!My own arithmetic was pitiful and remained so well into adulthood. I never learned my multiplication tables. I had to use a calculator to add two-digit numbers. I was lost with decimals and fractions.As I worked through this book in evenings and odd hours, everything began to clear up. I found the self-estimating nature of the system very practical, and so started using it mentally more and more often. The virtuous cycle ensued, and I now find myself enjoying arithmetic and using it all the time; interpreting the news, calculating expenses, planning. Taking out my phone calculator usually isn't worth the bother any more.This book isn't "tricks to impress friends." Nor is it a system like Trachtenberg or Vedic, which may be interesting in their own right but are borderline arcane. This is the simple, practical, consistent system of arithmetic that we probably all should have learned in elementary school. It deserves to be on every family's bookshelf.

Instead of providing a series of disjointed "speed techniques," Stoddard teaches a method of speed arithmetic that integrates the same principles throughout. In other words, the speed techniques you learn in addition will also be employed in subtraction, multiplication, and division. Stoddard's "no carry, no borrow" method is based upon the structure of the Japanese abacus called the Soroban along with making efficient use of the inherent ease of computing with 10. The methods Stoddard uses are historical and were first seen in print in the 12th century in a book about arithmetic written by the Indian mathematician and astronomer Bhaskara (1144-1185) entitled "Lilavati." The wonder and beauty of this method is its consistency (which is what mathematics is all about). Every arithmetic operation is approached the same way, a revolutionary (to some, that is) "left to right" procedure. One by-product of this consistency is that it lends itself to immediate estimates. Compare this ingenuity with the "hodge-podge" traditional way of teaching arithmetic and you will see marked productivity difference. I, as a math teacher, wish more students were taught this way. The simplicity of the methods, once mastered, generates an ease and accuracy of computation that is simply amazing to behold.

Nach den positiven Rezensionen kaufte ich das Buch und wurde bitter enttäuscht.Dieses Buch rühmt sich mit Universellen Algorithmen anstatt von Rechentricks unddas war einer der Gründe für meinen Kauf, doch die Rechenmethoden aus dem Buch sind meinerMeinung nach sogar schlechter als die Standard Methoden aus der Schule. Dies ist mit Abstand,das schlechtetste Buch zu diesem Thema, was ich bis jetzt gelesen habe.Interresierten würde ich eher zu dem Buch "Mathe-Magie" raten, sollte man eswirklich ernst meinen und auch bereit sein Zeit zu investieren, dem würde ich"Dead Reckoning" empfehlen.

Its not often at the of 40+ you come across a concept or idea that makes you think wow, or makes you raise your eyebrows.I have worked through the first few chapters of this book which covers adding multiple large numbers from left to right, using a Japanese 'Soroban' abacus system. The method is fast and easy to learn. There is a little 'unlearning' of traditional methods, but I found that with practice it got easier and easier to do addition from left to right. The system makes sure you never have to add numbers that total over 10!I am now approaching the fast addition, fast multiplication and fast division chapters.I am always looking for new methods and approches to teach my children how to do maths in a fun and entertaining way. Anything that takes the drugdery out of traditional maths learning methods has to help.This method is amazing and it works. Highly recommended.

I've been looking for this book for years, I first saw it in a library as a boy in the late 1960s... It may not look much, but this book can put an abacus in your head, and in your hands... it's awesome!

Insightful book and great for me who was always a bit of a dud a maths. The left to right method of calculation makes more sense than what I learned at school. As with all these things practice makes perfect.