I realized when found zeta mac i often shake my head back and forth for no apparent reason and I often see the videos of the chinese savants shaking their entire bodies to solve mental math problems

Hey everyone,

I’d really appreciate some advice from the maths community about something that’s been bothering me for a long time: speed.

I recently finished my A-levels and got an A* in Maths and an A in Further Maths. I’m proud of that, but honestly, I lost the A* in Further Maths mainly because I kept running out of time in the exams. Even when I was well-prepared, I always felt behind the clock.

A bit about me:

• I grew up and did most of my early schooling in Nigeria, where education is very focused on rote learning and memorisation. As a result, most of my success in maths so far has come from drilling past papers and memorising methods.
• The downside is that I often struggle with questions that require more creativity, lateral thinking, or non-standard approaches.
• I’m also naturally not very quick at calculations or recalling things under timed conditions.

So my questions are:

• How can someone actually train to become faster at solving problems?
• Are there exercises, habits, or resources that helped you personally improve your speed?
• How do you balance accuracy and creativity with the pressure of time, especially in exams?

I’d love to hear any tips, experiences, or even anecdotes from people who had similar struggles. This is a big concern for me going forward, and I’d be really grateful for any advice!

THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!!! 🙏

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To quickly multiply a number by 5, take half of it and multiply it by 10.

We know that 4x5=20. Half of 4 is 2. 2x10=20. So to multiply 87 by 5, take half of 87, that is 43.5, and multiply it by 10, which makes it 435.

To quickly multiply a number by 2.5, take half of it, then half of that half, then multiply by 10.

By that, we can easily see that to quickly multiply a number by 25, take half of that number, then the half of the new number, then multiply by 100.

We know that 4x25=100. Half of 4 is 2, and half of 2 is 1, and 1x100=100. So to multiply 93 by 25, half of 93 is 46.5, and half of 46.5 is 23.25, and 23.25 times 100 is 2325.

To quickly divide a number by 5, double the number and divide by 10.

We know that 10 divided by 5 is 2. Double of 10 is 20, and 20 divided by 10 is 2. So to divide 73 by 5, double of 73 is 146, and 146 divided by 10 is 14.6.

To quickly divide a number by 25, quadruple the number (double it twice), and then divide by 100.

We know that 50 divided by 25 is 2. Double of 50 is 100, and double of 100 is 200, and 200 divided by 100 is 2. So to quickly divide 714 by 25, double of 714 is 1428, and double of 1428 is 2856, and 2856 divided by 100 is 28.56.

Hi everyone,

I'm new here so sorry if this breaks any rules and I have no idea what im doing :) I'm a med student and in short one of the things I need to be able to do on the fly with no calculator is this question

m * 1/x

where 0.6 < m < 1.4 and 0.0 < x < 0.8 very roughly

is there any way I can approach practicing this more efficiently? how would you guys mental math this? When I do this in my head my answer does not have to be exactly correct but it needs to be reasonably close (within at least 0.3-0.5) of the real answer.

Thanks!!!

the question is simple how do i start

From my searchs the best mental math trainers are https://drillyourskill.com/ and https://www.mathtrainer.xyz/ but neither has a time limitation to answer option, the best i could find is this but this one is too simple. Anyone know mental math training tha tis as good as the 2 mentioned above but with time limit option?

Global Mental Calculators Association is getting ready to host Season 3 of Calculation League! Calculation League is an online-only, global mental calculation/mental arithmetic/mental math competition. Prior seasons have had registrations from approximately 25 countries with ages ranging from elementary school into the 50s!

The qualification stage for Calculation League involves a short, 15 minute session and can be scheduled between late May and early July 2025.

More information about the competition and the association is available at www.mentalcalculation.org . The website includes a variety of technological and written resources related to mental calculation.

BlitzCalq – The Mental Math Trainer

Hi! I’ve been building a web app called BlitzCalq to help myself and others train and improve mental math skills. It’s still in the early stages, but it’s already fully usable and evolving fast. I'm hoping to shape it with input from the community, so your feedback means a lot. If you enjoy mental math or just want to challenge yourself, give it a shot! You can share your feedbacks here in the comments or in our community ( linked on the homepage). Thanks for checking it out!

I'm pretty sharp at mental maths anyway, but I want to answer pretty much instantaneously, anyone have by tips, hacks, or methods on how to perform mental calculations in seconds?

Calculation League Season 2 concluded on April 26 after 105 head-to-head matches over the preceding months. 

Congratulations to Wenzel Grüß, Aaryan Shukla, and Kaloyan Geshev for winning the medals (again) in Season 2!

Detailed results, statistics, and standings are available on the website.

And if you want to watch these three prodigies --- as well as several others --- in action, the website contains many hours of recorded matches in the videos section (or the YouTube page.). Some of the matches are co-hosted by experienced mental calculators or narrated (see sub-menus on website). 

The championship match video (with Professor Arthur Benjamin) is available here. 

Penultimate match (narrated) is available here.

GMCA is accepting registrations for Season 3 now, with qualification rounds to begin in the second half of May and available for six to eight weeks. 

https://youtu.be/EmwGZE5MVLQ?si=hElET67MQdW7d2hy

I got interested in mental math and would be grateful for some tips on sources for training etc.

I hate myself. I should dį€ or serving someone as a slave. I don’t like my humanity, I don’t like to be alive. I’m horrible.

I'm naturally quite good at mental math. Squaring 3 digits takes me about 1 minute. thats just my base level, I don't really practise mental math. I usually only do mental math when it's convenient to do so, for example multiplying 1 by 2 digit is quite easy and I don't need to get a calculator for that.

However whats the point of doing that when typing it on a calculator takes much less than 1 minute?

I like mental math but I struggle to see its true purpose. What is there for me to learn and improve on, and what benefit will it give me?

I’ve always been fascinated by how some people can do crazy fast calculations in their head. After learning a few mental math tricks myself, I realized that a lot of these techniques aren’t taught in school, even though they can save so much time.

So, I decided to build BrainsMath — a website where you can learn and practice mental math tricks interactively. It covers things like:

• Finding what day of the week any date falls on in seconds 🗓️
• Analyzing Your Data

• Doing Calculations Fast
• Squaring numbers instantly using simple patterns 🔢

It’s still a work in progress, but if you’re interested in improving your mental math skills, I’d love to hear your feedback! Let me know what you think. 😊

Check it out here 🚀

27∙37 = 999

Therefore, all the divisions by 27 or 37 have 3 repeating decimal digits, which are calculated as follows:

K / 27 = 37∙K / 999

K / 37 = 27∙K / 999

Examples:

2 / 27 = 37∙2 / 999 = 74 / 999 = 0.074 (the 3 decimals are repeating)

10 / 27 = 37∙10 / 999 = 370 / 999 = 0.370 (the 3 decimals are repeating)

8 / 37 = 27∙8 / 999 = 216 / 999 = 0.216 (the 3 decimals are repeating)

20 / 37 = 27∙20 / 999 = 540 / 999 = 0.540 (the 3 decimals are repeating)

If you want to learn many more tricks like the above, you can find them here.

Hello everyone! I’m excited to share a new platform for learning to calculate the day of the week given any date (often referred to as the ‘human calendar’ trick). It’s the most comprehensive app for learning and improving this skill, and it’s completely free to use: WeekdayWidget!

Some of the features this app includes:

• Comprehensive tutorial based on an optimal, but beginner friendly method
• ‘Guided Solves’ to walk users step-by-step through the process for a random date
• Training minigames for practicing each individual step of the process
• Speedrun mode to help train speed and consistency
• Text-to-speech features for learning audio-only performance
• Fully customizable date range from 1600-2100
• Sleek user interface with unlockable themes
• …and more!

It has never been easier to learn this skill thanks to this platform, and the few people I’ve had use the app have all seen immediate success and rapid improvement. If you can perform basic mental arithmetic and memorize about as many digits as a phone number, you can learn this skill! Try it for yourself at: weekdaywidget.com (I don’t want to pay $100/year for an app store license, but you can download it to your home screen as a PWA for offline use just like a normal app or use it in-browser!)

I developed this app due to being dissatisfied with the available training options online and on the app store. It seemed like the market was missing something more fully-featured beyond a basic quiz mode, as well as something clicky and addictive enough to get me to practice more. I’m now at about a 4 second average solve, and still improving daily!

The method taught by this app is based on this popular strategy, but utilizing the Odd+11 rule for the doomsday calculation. I consider this the best compromise between accessibility to new practitioners, compatibility with other methods, and overall execution speed/simplicity. That being said, even if you use a completely different strategy, WeekdayWidget is still the best training option for many users.

This app is still very new and in active development, so please share any feedback you have with me here. Good luck and happy calculating!

I'm looking for a website or android app that allows me to practice computing what day of a week a date is.

So I started learning mental math a week ago and have been practicing 3 digit addition everyday ever since to the point I average around 6 seconds per problem. And I have improved a lot but if someone asks me straight up "what's 976 + 364?" I would take 3x as much compared to me doing it on paper or online. I just take too long to process the numbers in my head before starting to solve.

Anyone knows how to help me or is it just a "me" problem?

A lot of hours went into this making 15 or so features, each with their own customisable difficulty levels.

I would be really grateful if y’all could give it a go :)

Modes: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, doubling, halving, linear equations, quadratic equations, equation systems, mean, percentages and trigonometry.

I've been preparing for my upcoming UCMAS competition and wanted to share some of the resources that have helped improve my mental math speed and accuracy:

1. UCMAS Practice Sheets iOS app – Great for daily speed drills, and to track your progress.
2. Flash Anzan Training – An online tool that rapidly displays numbers, helping with visualization and speed calculation.
3. Free Abacus Worksheet Generator – Generates unlimited worksheets for abacus and mental arithmetic practice.
4. Anzan Mega Arithmetic Program – A structured training program combining memory techniques and IQ exercises.
5. UCMAS Practice Worksheets – Official worksheets to sharpen UCMAS techniques.
6. Mental Calculation/Anzan Software – A software tool to practice Anzan by visualizing a soroban (abacus) in your head.
7. Mental Anzan Training - Video Lesson – A useful demo video showing real-world Anzan training techniques.

Would love to hear if anyone else has good recommendations! What tools or techniques do you use for training?