Math Magic: How to Master Everyday Math Problems

by Scott Flansburg, Victoria Hay

Don't live in fear of math any longer.

Math Magic makes math what you may never have imagined it to be: easy and fun!

Scott Flansburg -- "the Human Calculator" who believes that there are no "mathematical illiterates," just people who have not learned how to make math work for them -- demonstrates how everyone can put their phobia to rest and deal with essential every-day mathematical calculations with confidence. This is the book for millions of otherwise successful adults who are afraid to balance their checkbooks and don't know how to figure interest on savings or credit, and for the millions of students who dread their math classes and live in fear of the SAT math section.

In Math Magic, Scott Flansburg shows the reader how to:


Master the basics, including the real way addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work Simplify calculations through estimation Quick-check answers Convert metric measures to more familiar ones Figure tips, taxes, and percentages -- never get short-changed again! Master algebra using the nine easy steps to algebra
Math Magic is for all of us who need and want to improve our understanding of math. With the help of Flansburg, the Guinness World Record holder as the Fastest Human Calculator, you can do math just like magic.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Education, Self Help, Science, Magic, Reference

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Amy Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the terrifying cover, this book actually taught me a few fun math tricks. It seems to be written more for a young adult, but it's still interesting! Behold the power of the mullet!

[Georg Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you like or dislike math, this book is for you. While practice is required, you will quickly find yourself calculating things in your head more quickly than you could get your calculator and punch in the numbers.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far this book is blowing my mind. - August 13th = mind blown.

[Antoine Balaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I don't need to use a calculator in every day life. Thank you Scott Flansburg - your book revealed that I didn't suck at math, it's just that it was explained poorly to me as a kid.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hated math as a kid, always felt it was not something I could relate to or find ways to really understand it. It just didn't stick in my head. So I saw this book and thought it would be fun. It has been long enough since I had to learn this in school, haha, yes? So this book takes people through many of the standard concepts (additions, subtraction and so forth becoming increasingly harder).

The author talks about the tips and tricks to get to the answer. Some of it will probably familiar and I would imagine some people would have encountered some of these somewhere else (the SATs or similar). It also goes through concept by concept (so addition is separate from subtraction which is separation from multiplication, etc.). This was handy for cutting down topics down to their basic concepts.

I thought I'd be interested but maybe because I'm so far away from needing this to also having the ability to type or calculate this has made it rather obsolete for me. This might have been fun for while I was in school when I was really struggling as a different way to think about maty but overall I thought this was really dull.

If you're into math or need the concepts explained to you in a different way, this might not be a bad pickup. Just keep in mind it may also be in need of updating (most recent version I could find was from 2015?) although of course the math itself stays the same. May be useful for math teachers, math tutors, parents, etc. to have or to thumb through if they have someone in their life struggling with math concepts.

Borrowed via Kindle Unlimited and that was best for me.

[Berry Muhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first purchased and attempted this book well over a decade ago. I read the first couple chapters and began putting their instructions into practice, setting it aside in order to focus on adding and subtracting in my head. Then I loaned it out to a friend who kept it for a few months, and by the time he returned it I'd pretty much (temporarily) lost interest.

I still add and subtract in my head, but have never put the rest of the book into practice, nor put in the time to improve my memory for long strings of numbers. Realizing I'd let this skill set lapse, I picked the book up again a couple weeks ago and read all the way through it.

It is full of insights that can be of help to anyone who has occasion to deal with math in even a small way in everyday life. The thing is, when you're done reading the book, you're not finished with it. I'm going to have to pull it back out, at intervals, to re-work the examples and continue getting practice. You should, too.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got this years ago when the kids were in school, thinking it would be fun for them to learn math tricks that were actually useful. Turns out none of them were at all interested, so I was determined to read it myself and wow them with my mad math skills. Turns out I'm not that interested either, so 1 star only because this book would be perfect for someone else. Not me.

[Mohd Fadhilullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helped me in secondary school!

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I happened across a radio interview with this author and I became very intrigued as I listened to him. He was relating a story about a friend's student who was really struggling with 2nd grade math; just couldn't get it. He offered to spend some time with the friend's child and after a short, 30 minute lesson with him, the kid returned to school as normal, but the teacher noticed a marked difference. On air, he was explaining how he could easily calculate simple addition and subtraction problems by working the opposite way from the way we've been taught at school. You start with the hundreds, then move to the tens, the over to the ones. I have two kids who are kind of struggling at school with their math, mainly due to lack of organization and the problems requiring too many steps. As I read through his book though, I realized that I already do most of the techniques that he shows when I do math in my head. Maybe it's because, as an elementary schooler, I was educated in two very different states with different methods of teaching math. So, unfortunately, I didn't find the book all that illuminating or useful for teaching my kids. I was hoping to read it and find ways to help my kids return to school with a new bag of math tricks like his friend's child that he was talking about in his radio interview. There were lots of little math problems for those of you interested in having some fun doing match calculations.

[Jovany Agathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I was a child, I was always considered gifted at mathematics. While I was very good at primary, high-school and university mathematics, and faster than my peers in any kind of mathematics, I had never tried (or thought of trying) to be very fast (like Scott Flansburg) at adding up a long column of numbers or multiplying 47138 by 269273 in my head. So when Scott promised to "reveal his secrets" for performing calculations at lightning speed, I decided to buy his book. I figured that if I was so good at mathematics it would be easy to do "speed math" if only "the secrets were revealed".

I regret to say that I have never been more disappointed in a book! While the book has some interesting and useful techniques for doing some specific calculations quickly (e.g. multiplying by 11 or squaring two-digit numbers that end in 5 or multiplying numbers in the 90s), it fails miserably at getting you to add up six two-digit numbers any faster than you could by doing it the normal way. Even after practising the so-called secrets, it still takes a while to multiply, say, 79 by 68, much less 47138 by 269273.

[Bo Manson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing method that were never been taught in school when I learn mathematics (Scot, where are you back in 90s?!) First of all, Scott asked me to zeroing my mind. Double checked. Entered chapter Addition and Subtraction. Adding numbers is easier but it became 100x easier when moving forward! While subtracting, make the numbers easier to subtract, subtraction will become less burden. Entered chapter Multiplication and Division. Cross this and that and there’s your answer. The complimentary multiplication and division really helps by looking at certain factor rather than doing it straight away. A little memorization in squaring and cubing will erase the fear for solving larger number. As the topic progress, checking estimations, knowing days of the calendar, calculating tips and taxes, time zone, and algebra were explored and SIMPLIFIED. These mathematical operation is super useful in daily life for it only concerns with smaller numbers. Other than that, practice makes perfect.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Math Magic puts forth ideas and techniques for facilitating mental math. It covers addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, square and cube roots, fractions, measurement conversions and other useful information. Contains plenty of examples and practice problems to attempt. Gets up to simple algebra.

[Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book..

[Telissa Thompson pickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book of shortcuts to teach a young person. My little brother is using this to help with his math homework

[Pam Hurd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wish I had this 50+ years ago. I always thought I was pretty good at math. This may have changed the course of my life.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really useful re-evauluations of basics. Strong recommend for anyone struggling with math in general and mental math in particular.