Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments [Paperback]

Ronald W. Doerfler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

No author has gone as far as Doerfler in covering methods of mental calculation beyond simple arithmetic. Even if you have no interest in competing with computers you'll learn a great deal about number theory and the art of efficient computer programming. --Martin Gardner

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fascinating...no author has gone as far as Doerfler in covering methods of mental calculation beyond simple arithmetic. Even if you have no interest in competing with computers you'll learn a great deal about number theory and the art of efficient computer programming. (Martin Gardner )

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884150879
• ISBN-13: 978-0884150879
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The magnum opus of mental arithmetic!, January 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments (Paperback)

Imagine transforming your mind into a slide-rule with the added bonus of extra precision! "Dead Reckoning" is the ONLY book of its kind, running the gamut from ordinary operations like multiplication and division to roots (square, higher-order, and reciprocal), logarithms and their inverses, and finally trigonometric functions and their inverses. The book also contains other gems such as factorization techniques, continued fractions (for creating rational approximations), and also an algorithm which permits mental square root extractions to arbitrary precision. Those who feel daunted by symbolic formulas needn't worry, the book is replete with examples which provide both clarity and realism to the presentation. The author has an engaging style and has obviously taken great pains; the clarity of the exposition is excellent throughout. Moreover, the text is profusely referenced for those wishing to further pursue a topic that piques their interest. The techniques and strategies contained therein are as practical as they are efficient and are equally amenable to quick pen-and-paper calculations for those not interested in pursuing mental computations. Heartily recommended! - Grant Nixon

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea, Poorly Proofread, February 18, 2006

By 

Dave O (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments (Paperback)

There are many books designed to teach rapid calculation without aid of a machine. The topic that sets this one apart, and the entire reason I bought it is that it covers logarithms. Unlike most of the books in this genre this one does not waste space with endless examples and practice problems, anybody can create there own. It does back an impressive array of methods to increase speed in pencil and paper calculation, and makes it clear that each method has a time and place for maximal performance.

This book was well thought out, but unfortunately not well proofread. For example, pp 14 and 15 have the following mistakes:
"125 x n = 8n,000 / 8" should read "125 x n = n,000 / 8"
"37 can be represented as 111/4" should read "37 can be represented as 111/3"

The typos caused me to verify every method presented, but could lead unsuspecting travelers down the wrong path.
BOTTOM LINE: This books is a wonderful treasury of number sense that is riddled with typos.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It just doesn't add up., August 22, 2007

By 

Martin Hamann (Kennesaw, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments (Paperback)

Dead Reckoning failed to meet expectations - that of being able to mentally or quickly do rudimentary math excersizes (such as finding square roots, large multiplication, etc.). I myself am okay with math and was looking to this book to further expand my abilities. It was not well explained and I was lost shortly after the introduction even after reading it three times. I even read on to see if I could catch up, but it just got more complicated. I am not sure the target audience (I'm assuming that it is for someone such as myself), but it really missed the mark. I'm sure the guy who wrote it is really smart, but I would recommend you not read it - or at least not have it be your first book on mental/speed math.

Much better reads are (in order of usefulness) Speed Mathematics Simplified by E. Stoddard, Speed Mathematics by B. Handley, and How to Calculate Quickly by H. Stickler. I've read these three and they provide much more useful methods than Dead Reckoning.

Anyone want to buy my copy of Dead Reckoning - cheap?