Laura Laing - Your Daily Math: 366 Number Puzzles and Problems to Keep You Sharp

Your brain is remarkable.

Command central, mission control, the heart of the whole operationfor your entire life, your brain has managed mundane tasks and spectacular feats. Right this very moment, your gray matter is engaged, moving your eyes across the page, deciphering the words and sentencesall while managing to keep your heart beating and your lungs inhaling and exhaling.

But along with aching knees, age may claim some of your neurological sharpness. You lose your car keys more often or cant remember if you have dinner plans with your in-laws. Your brain is aging with the rest of you.

Scientists agree: there is no magic pill that will keep your brain working at peak condition as you age. A healthy diet and plenty of exercise are probably most important, along with staying socially active. While most neuroscientists dont agree that computer-based brain training is an effective way to keep the brain sharp, there is something to be said about learning something new or remembering a long-lost skill.

No matter your age, you need to stay cognitively active. And the more challenging the task, the more of a workout your brain gets. As a bonus, daily brain exercises and challenges can be fun. (Thats why all major newspapers include a crossword puzzle.)

Your Daily Math was written to provide that daily cognitive workout. Each week, youll have a full menu of mathematical problems, one per day, from seven categories.

The problems are easier at the beginning and get more difficult as the year progresses. And the questions arent meant to stump you or make you feel inadequate. Even if its been years since you solved for x, you can handle this math. The problems are designed to keep you thinking, putting together long-forgotten ideas with math that you do every day.

The point is not to pull up information that you learned decades ago. In these problems, the formulas are often provided. And each problem can be solved even if you have forgotten basic math rules.

The best part? Theres no shame in getting a wrong answer. On each page, youll find a (sometimes lengthy) explanation of the process for solving the problem. The goal is not to find the right answer. The goal is to think.

So what kind of math can you expect to do? Here are the seven categories:

Being nimble with numbers is what we math educators called numeracy. If youve got it, you can instinctively break a number down into various partsincluding factors and sums. The foundation for numeracy happens in elementary school, but as grown-ups, we work on these skills throughout our lives, quickly estimating a sum or working with place value in decimals.

These problems focus on basic ideas about numbers and our number systemfrom the order of operations to recognizing factors and multiples. Youll also be encouraged to think about different kinds of numbers and how they work together.

Finding x has been a huge mathematical pursuit since the fathers of algebra, Diophantus and Al-Khwarizmi, began tinkering with equations in the third and ninth centuries, respectively. Contrary to popular belief, algebra was not invented to make your high school years a living hell, and you do use it in your everyday life.

In these problems, youre asked to solve for x, yes, but also to interpret lines on a coordinate plane and to simplify expressions and equations.

Unlike algebra, youve been doing geometry since you were teeny-tiny. (Remember Tinkertoys or Legos?)

Shapes dominate these problems, as you are asked to find the area, perimeter, and volume of figures. You will also explore transformations (translations, reflections, and rotations), as well as the geometry of the coordinate plane. (Thats the x-y axis, in case you dont remember.)

For most of us its silly to do math just for maths sake. (Though it can be fun and interesting.) The real test of our deductive reasoning is using math in the real world.

And heres your chance. Using basic arithmetic, algebraic concepts, and geometry, youll solve problems that you could encounter in your daily life. From personal finance to gardening to managing time, these challenges come from the real world.

Being able to interpret statistical information and assess the likelihood of an event are perhaps the most useful math skills. Statistics are all around us, from our daily news to the reports some of us manage at work.

Youll apply critical-thinking skills to various scenarios involving probability and statistics. There are lots of questions about dice, cards, and raffle tickets. And youll interpret graphs and statistical results.

For centuries, logic has been considered an important aspect of mathematics. Almost all of the mathematical concepts that we take for granted have been formally proven using logic. In this book, thats where things get really funand perhaps a bit more challenging.

These problems are not meant to be tricky or deceitful; however, they will challenge your ordinary way of thinking. Given a little bit of thought, you can find the answers. So dont give up too early.

Some problems just dont fit in any category. They often look like logic problems, but with a decidedly mathematical bent. A few come from math historyold problems and concepts that mathematicians have been playing with for centuries. And some are just downright silly.

In short, you wont know whats coming next with a grab bag question, but unlike logic questions, these problems will focus on numbers or shapes.

There are 366 problems, one for every day of the year, plus leap year. The problems go in order by category. So if you work a problem a day, starting on a Monday, youll solve a Number Sense problem every Monday.

When you dont remember how to do a problem, get creative. Draw a picture. Make a list of what you know. Create a table. Use a calculator. Look up a formula. There are no rules.

Just remember this: to get the most out of these cranial workouts, let your brain do the heavy lifting. Give yourself an opportunity to think through the problem before reaching for your smartphone or computer. Just think about how proud youll feel when you find the answer.