Customer Reviews

Math Magic: The Human Calculator Shows How to Master Everyday Math Problems in Seconds

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Anyone who has seriously attempted to use Scott Flansburg math strategies will find out that his methods simply do not work outside of the examples in his book. The problem solving techniques are engineered to work only with the examples that he supplied. For instance, in his chapter on solving cubed roots, his method will work for the exercises in the book, however when I applied these to real world numbers, his methods flat out failed. Hey Scott, try solving the cubed root of these numbers 11111111 or even 123456 using the method described on page 153 - your methods are flawed.

I wanted to read this book ever since seeing the infomercial of Scott doing his thing on tv. I couldn't afford or justify the expense to buy the big commerical package so this book had to do. The methods are easy to follow and Mr. Flansburg does a good job expressing his mind set in how he mentally did the problems. The basic addition and multiplications methods are good but the examples were insufficient when dealing with mixed numbers of different lengths. There were also exceptions to many of the rules that weren't expressed. Finally, the last part of the book with special rules were so numerious it would take a year to effectively learn and apply them all from memory. This leads me to believe that Mr. Flansburg didn't tell everything he knows, like the quick way to determine change -- by changing say ten bucks to 9.99 and subtracting that from the amount owed; then add one cent to get the correct change. It's easier to subtract 9 since its the highest value you can have in each column. This was presented by him on a night time radio show he was a guest on. I do give him prasie for getting people young and old to stop depending on calculators and learn mental speed math.

This book does not give a system of how to use the the various short cuts.It does not say when and where each short cut is most useful.Thereby,trying to remember all or any of them leads to confusion.However,i found the chapters on "using zeroes to hold places", addition,subtraction,and "cross multiplication" to be superb!If you are a concerned parent,student ,or adult ; i recommend SPEED MATHEMATICS SIMPLIFIED by edward stoddard as the most comprehensive manual of shortcut math available anywhere! Learn the simple truths about the japanese and german approach to basic arithmetic . Then on the opposite side of the coin(READING) i recommend :HOW TO READ A BOOK ,by mortimer adler /charles van doren.

This book is a breath of fresh air. It makes math fun . This is the type of book that needs to be read a few times, but it is great. I wish i had this book in high school.Anyway this book is best for high school and some college students. I hope scott writes the sequel to this book, and includes topics like , trig,stats,cal,chem,and physics etc...

The outcome of this book, like any book on enhancing mental abilities, is going to depend on the reader's level of ambition and practice. I've had this book for years, but only recently started devoting the time to really practicing the techniques, and they DO WORK if you do. This book will give you a running start - you've got to do the rest yourself, and devote a good portion of your time to it's practice.

Books like this one can fall under the category SELF help. Ever wondered why they're called that?

This book is well written and easy to read. It is a really great book and gives insights into various interesting methods to calculate rapidly. However, Mr.Flansburg and Ms. Hay seems to claim that these methods are either theirs, or Japanese. They fail to give proper reference. This preposterous misrepresentation is possibly due to their sheer ignorance or intentional need to hide the real source. In reality, these fast methods were invented during the Vedic Period in India around 400 B.C. One can refer to all these and more methods in "Vedic Mathematics or Sixteen Simple Mathematical Formulae from the Vedas", by Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthanji at Amazon.com. Nevertheless, the credit should be given to these authors for putting these concepts in a easy to understand format and encouraging kids to learn math....

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.

For example, his "technique" for multiplying 79 by 68 quickly is to do the following: work out 7 times 6 and remember that is 4200; then cross-multiply 7 by 8 (56) and 9 by 6 (54) and add them to get 110; multiply 110 by 10 (1100) and add this to 4200 to get 5300. While remembering all this, multiply 9 by 8 (72) and add this to get the answer 5372.

After all that, you are supposed to say, "Wow, Scott! That was easy." If you think that is easy, try doing it in your head. And with all the practice in the world, you will never get as fast as someone who can simply look at the numbers and tell you the answer.

There are no "secrets" revealed in this book to get you to do arithmetic faster, either mentally or on paper. All of the techniques discussed can be easily found on the Net. While I am sure that Scott deserves his title "human calculator", you will never become anything remotely like him by reading and practising the methods in this book. Like most celebrities, he just decided to piggy-back on his reputation to sell a book.

One more thing: less than half of the book is devoted to "techniques". The rest is "padding" with things like how to calculate tips and taxes, how to measure things like thea area of a piece of land, some information on military time, working with fractions (just like in elementary school) etc. There is an introduction to algebra but it is poorly presented; you will learn better from any school book on algebra.

Even though I'm a finance major I've always find that I was a bit slow at mental maths so I bought the book because of the good reputation of Scott. However, I must say the author did a terrible job at making the book an exciting read.

Quite frankly it was borrowing! And this statement is comming from an avid reader who enjoys reading non-fiction and history books. I couldn't have made it pass the first five pages without yawning constantly. Believe me I tried to read it to see what I could have absorbed but the dialogue was bland, moved at a slow pace and was uselessly repetitive. I was finally forced to put it away to collect dust on my shelves. I am seriously considering returning it or dumping it.

My advice to anyone trying to improve there mental maths: Buy another book or go to a class!
To the authors: I know it must have taken a lot of hard work to write this book but it just did not meet my expectations. Sorry.

This book is a wonder help if you stink at math in general, and will help you perform some hard stuff in your head and have you stunning people with your quick answers, Scott does a good job keeping the language simple and the concepts easy too follow.

I bought this for my kids to help them in school. They loved the tips and tricks and actually started really liking math. Can't beat that! I just bought another for my Dad since he loves brain teasers and math tricks. This is a great book for people of all ages and math skill levels. Something for everyone here.