7 Practical tips for Mental Math

1. The "9-trick".

To add 9 to any number, first add 10, and then subtract 1. In my Math Mammoth books, I give children
this storyline where nine really badly wants to be 10… so, it asks this other number for "one". The other
number then becomes one less. For example, we change the addition 9 + 7 to 10 + 6, which is much easier
to solve.

But this "trick" expands. Can you think of an easy way to add 76 + 99? Change it to 75 + 100. How about
385 + 999?

How would you add 39 + 28 in your head? Let 39 become 40… which reduces 28 to 27. The addition is now
40 + 27. Yet another way is by thinking of compensation: 39 is one less than 40, and 28 is two less than
30. So, their sum is three less than 70.

2. Doubles + 1.

Encourage children to memorize the doubles from 1 + 1 through 9 + 9. After that, a whole lot of other
addition facts are at their fingertips: the ones we can term "doubles plus one more". For example, 5 + 6 is
just one more than 5 + 5, or 9 + 8 is just one more than 8 + 8.

3. Use addition facts when adding bigger numbers.

Once you know that 7 + 8 = 15, then you will also be able to do all these additions in your head:

o 70 + 80 is 15 tens, or 150
o 700 + 800 is 15 hundreds, or 1500

o 27 + 8 is 20 and 15, which is 35. Or, think this way: since 7 + 8 is five more than ten, then 27 + 8
is five more than the next ten.
4. Subtract by adding.

This is a very important principle, based on the connection between addition and subtraction. Children really
don't need to memorize subtraction facts as such, if they can use this principle. For example, to find 8 − 6,
think, "Six plus what number makes 8?" In other words, think of the missing number addition 6 + ___ = 8.
The answer to that is also the answer to 8 − 6.

This principle comes in especially handy with subtractions such as 13 − 7, 17 − 8, 16 − 9, and other basic
subtraction facts where the minuend is between 10 and 20. But you can also use it in multitudes of other
situations. For example, 63 − 52 is easier to solve by thinking of addition: 52 + 11 makes 63, so the answer
to 63 − 52 is 11.

5. Five times a number.

Turning our attention to multiplication now, here's a nifty trick you might not know about. To find 5 times
any number, first multiply that number times ten, then take half of that. For example, 5 × 48 can be found
by multiplying 10 × 48 = 480, and taking half of the result, which gives us 240. Of course, you can also use
this strategy for such multiplication facts as 5 × 7 or 5 × 9.

6. Four and eight times a number.

 If you can double numbers, you already have this down pat! To find four times a number, double that
number twice. For example, what is 4 × 59? First find double 59, which is 118. Then double that, and you
get 236.

Similarly, eight times a number just means doubling three times. As an example, to find 8 × 35 means
doubling 35 to get 70, doubling 70 to get 140, and (once more) doubling 140 to get 280. However,
personally I would transform 8 × 35 into 4 × 70 (you double one factor and halve the other), which is easy
to solve to be 280.

7. Multiply in parts.

This strategy is very simple, and in fact it is the foundation for the standard multiplication algorithm. You
can find 3 × 74 mentally by multiplying 3 × 70 and 3 × 4, and adding the results. We get 210 + 12 = 222.
Another example: 6 × 218 is 6 × 200 and 6 × 10 and 6 × 8, which is 1200 + 60 + 48 = 1308.

10 tricks for doing fast math

1. Adding large numbers

Adding large numbers just in your head can be difficult. This method shows how to simplify this process by making
all the numbers a multiple of 10. Here is an example:

644 + 238

While these numbers are hard to contend with, rounding them up will make them more manageable. So, 644
becomes 650 and 238 becomes 240.

Now, add 650 and 240 together. The total is 890. To find the answer to the original equation, it must be
determined how much we added to the numbers to round them up.

650 – 644 = 6 and 240 – 238 = 2

Now, add 6 and 2 together for a total of 8

To find the answer to the original equation, 8 must be subtracted from the 890.

890 – 8 = 882

So the answer to 644 +238 is 882.

2. Subtracting from 1,000

Here’s a basic rule to subtract a large number from 1,000: Subtract every number except the last from 9 and
subtract the final number from 10

For example:

1,000 – 556
Step 1: Subtract 5 from 9 = 4
Step 2: Subtract 5 from 9 = 4
Step 3: Subtract 6 from 10 = 4
The answer is 444.
 3. Multiplying 5 times any number
When multiplying the number 5 by an even number, there is a quick way to find the answer.

For example, 5 x 4 =

 Step 1: Take the number being multiplied by 5 and cut it in half, this makes the number 4 become the number 2.
 Step 2: Add a zero to the number to find the answer. In this case, the answer is 20.
5 x 4 = 20

When multiplying an odd number times 5, the formula is a bit different.

For instance, consider 5 x 3.

 Step 1: Subtract one from the number being multiplied by 5, in this instance the number 3 becomes the number 2.
 Step 2: Now halve the number 2, which makes it the number 1. Make 5 the last digit. The number produced is 15,
which is the answer.
5 x 3 = 15

4. Division tricks
Here’s a quick way to know when a number can be evenly divided by these certain numbers:

 10 if the number ends in 0

 9 when the digits are added together and the total is evenly divisible by 9
 8 if the last three digits are evenly divisible by 8 or are 000
 6 if it is an even number and when the digits are added together the answer is evenly divisible by 3
 5 if it ends in a 0 or 5
 4 if it ends in 00 or a two digit number that is evenly divisible by 4
 3 when the digits are added together and the result is evenly divisible by the number 3
 2 if it ends in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8
5. Multiplying by 9
This is an easy method that is helpful for multiplying any number by 9. Here is how it works:

Let’s use the example of 9 x 3.

Step 1: Subtract 1 from the number that is being multiplied by 9.

3–1=2

The number 2 is the first number in the answer to the equation.

Step 2: Subtract that number from the number 9.

9–2=7

The number 7 is the second number in the answer to the equation.

So, 9 x 3 = 27
 6. 10 and 11 times tricks
The trick to multiplying any number by 10 is to add a zero to the end of the number. For example, 62 x 10 = 620.

There is also an easy trick for multiplying any two-digit number by 11. Here it is:

11 x 25

Take the original two-digit number and put a space between the digits. In this example, that number is 25.

2_5

Now add those two numbers together and put the result in the center:

2_(2 + 5)_5

2_7_5

The answer to 11 x 25 is 275.

If the numbers in the center add up to a number with two digits, insert the second number and add 1 to the first
one. Here is an example for the equation 11 x 88

8_(8 +8)_8

(8 + 1)_6_8

9_6_8

There is the answer to 11 x 88: 968

7. Percentage
Finding a percentage of a number can be somewhat tricky, but thinking about it in the right terms makes it much
easier to understand. For instance, to find out what 5% of 235 is, follow this method:

 Step 1: Move the decimal point over by one place, 235 becomes 23.5.
 Step 2: Divide 23.5 by the number 2, the answer is 11.75. That is also the answer to the original equation.

8. Quickly square a two-digit number that ends in 5

Let’s use the number 35 as an example.

 Step 1: Multiply the first digit by itself plus 1.

 Step 2: Put a 25 at the end.
35 squared = [3 x (3 + 1)] & 25

[3 x (3 + 1)] = 12

12 & 25 = 1225

35 squared = 1225
9. Tough multiplication
When multiplying large numbers, if one of the numbers is even, divide the first number in half, and then double the
second number. This method will solve the problem quickly. For instance, consider

20 x 120

Step 1: Divide the 20 by 2, which equals 10. Double 120, which equals 240.

Then multiply your two answers together.

10 x 240 = 2400

The answer to 20 x 120 is 2,400.

10. Multiplying numbers that end in zero

Multiplying numbers that end in zero is actually quite simple. It involves multiplying the other numbers together and
then adding the zeros at the end. For instance, consider:

200 x 400

Step 1: Multiply the 2 times the 4

2x4=8

Step 2: Put all four of the zeros after the 8

80,000

200 x 400= 80,000