Frederic P Miller

Mental calculation Frederic P Miller

Publisher Marketing: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Mental calculation comprises arithmetical calculations using only the human brain, with no help from a calculator or computer, or pen and paper. Practically, mental calculations are not only helpful when computing tools are not available, but they also can be helpful in situations where it is beneficial to calculate with speed. When a method is much faster than the conventional methods (as taught, for example, in educational institutions), it may be called a shortcut. Although used to aid or quicken tedious computation, mental arithmetic may be done for its own sake or in a competition context. Almost all such methods make use of the decimal numeral system. The choice of radix determines what methods to use and also which calculations are easier to perform mentally. For example, multiplying or dividing by ten is very easy in decimal (just move the decimal point), whereas multiplying or dividing by sixteen is not; but the opposite happens if one uses the hexadecimal base instead of decimal. There are many different techniques for performing mental calculations, many of which are specific to a type of problem.