There are a lot of speculations on whether the brain is a calculator or not. Daily, you must have come up with a lot of articles on how to become a human calculator, ways to become a calculator, etc.
But trust me guys, no one can do anything like black magic to make you a human calculator. Also, remember that no one is born with some supernatural power. Now, some legends will say what is the need when we have the calculator? No comments!
Now, let’s move on to the main point. When we compare the human brain with a calculator, we generally talk about pushing the limits of the mind. But what is the limit? How fast can a brain perform calculations? Can everyone be able to sell their boundaries?
There is no answer to the above questions as of now. But, we have a lot of examples with us who are known as human calculators like Shakuntala Devi, Alexis Lemaire, Willem Klein, etc. So, what have they done to achieve the title? I have already mentioned no one is born with supernatural powers.
Have you seen a five-year-old child struggling to add 2+3? But after some time he will become an expert at it. How? The answer is simple. Practice! Practice! And practice! Also, there is a shortcut to everything in this world, which we can say ‘Technique.’ So, the correct technique and practice can do wonders!
Now, I will share the techniques with you that I follow. Once you start developing, you will notice a significant change in you.
So, let’s talk about each one by one:
- Addition
The addition is perhaps the most critical skill when it comes to developing your calculations. If you can add well, you would be able to handle all the other kinds of calculations with consummate ease.
Suppose I were to give you two numbers at random-5, 7, and ask you to Stop! Stop your mind before it gives you the sum of these two numbers. Were you able to stop your mind from saying 12? No! Of course not you would say.
Try again with 12+7. Stop your mind. You could not do it again! Try again with 88+73. If you belong to the general category of ‘addition disabled aspirants’, you did not even start, did you?
What went wrong? Let’s look at the technique through an example. Suppose you need to add 48, 73, 68, 56, 43, 18, and 27.
Technique 1: Add Complete Numbers first and then their remainders. You should go in this way ‘40+70+60+50+40+10+20+8+3+8+6+3+8+7’. What’s the answer then?… Hey! OK, so let’s calculate, later on, come back to the topic.
Technique 2: Your thinking should go like this:
Let me break it for you guys, 48+3+70+8+60+6+50+3+40+8+10+7+20.
Both techniques are excellent. However, as you start practicing your additions, these additions would become automatic for your mind. They would then fall into the range where your mind can react with the answers. The following 10*10 table done at least once daily might be an excellent way to work on your additions.
- Subtraction
The better your addition is, the better you can subtract. So, make sure that you have worked on your acquisitions seriously for at least 15 days before you attempt to internalize the process of subtraction.
Technique: Think of a number line and start.
Let’s take an example: 813–478=?
The flow goes like 813–478=35+300=335. Like this, it will be straightforward to subtract. Even if we were to get four-digit numbers, you would still be able to use this process quite easily.
- Multiplication
Multiplication is crucial as most questions in mathematics do require repetition.
Technique: The straight-line method of multiplying two numbers. Suppose we need to find out 43*78. The multiplication would be done in the following manner.
Step 1: Finding the unit’s digit. The first objective would be to get the unit’s digit. So multiply 3*8, which will give 24. Hence, we would write 4 and 2 becomes a carry.
Step 2: Finding the ten’s place digit-cross multiply and add. So, 4*8+3*7=53 and 53+2(from carrying over)=55. Thus, we write 5 in ten’s place and carry over 5 to the hundreds place.
Step 3: Finding the hundreds place digit
Thought Process: 4*7=28, 28+5(from carrying)=33. Since 4 and 7 are the last digits on the left in both the numbers, hence we can write 33 for the remaining two figures in the answer.
Thus, the answer to the question is 3354.
- Squares
You must remember squares of 1 to 30 digits for these mentioned techniques.
Technique1: Squares for numbers 31 to 50. Let’s look at this technique through an example: (41)²
Step 1: Look at 41 as (50–9)
Step 2: The last two digits of the answer are calculated by using the formula (-9)² = 81
Step 3: The first two digits of the solution are derived by 25–9=16, where 25 is the default number to be used in all the cases.
Hence, the answer=1681.
Note: In case there had been a carryover from the last two digits, it would have been added to 16 to get the answer.
Technique2: Squares from 51 to 80. Let’s look at this technique through an example: (76)²
Step 1: Look at 76 as (50+26)
Step 2: (26)² is 676. Hence, the last two digits of the answer will be 76, and we will carry over 6.
Step 3: The first two digits of the answer will be 25(default number) +26 (the second number of the addition formed) + 6 (carryover) = 57.
Hence, the answer is 5776.
Technique3: Squares from 81 to 100. Let’s look at this technique through an example: (82)²
Step 1: Look at 82 as (100–18)
Step 2: (-18)² is 324. Hence, the last two digits of the answer will be 24, and we will carry over 3.
Step 3: The first two digits of the answer will be 82(original number)+(-18)(the number obtained by looking at 82 as (100-x))+3(carryover)=67.
Hence, the answer is 6724.
Hey! “I am a master of fast calculations.”
“Ok, what is 768 time 452?”
“221”
“Funny, that’s wrong!:
“Might be, but it was fast!”
I just thought to relax your mind a little bit after so much of calculations. So that’s it, guys. Begin your journey of calculations.
All the best!
– Sakshi Sharma
Utkarshini Journal 