Henry Sticker - How to Calculate Quickly: Full Course in Speed Arithmetic

(the art of calculation) BY HENRY STICKER DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. This Dover edition, first published in 1955, is an unabridged republication, with minor corrections, of the work originally published by Essential Books in 1945 under the title The Art of Calculation. It is reprinted through special arrangement with Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc. Copyright Copyright 1945 by Essential Books. Copyright 1955 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. International Standard Book NumberISBN-13: 978-0-486-20295-2ISBN-10: 0-486-20295-X Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation 20295X35 www.doverpublications.com PREFACE Arithmetic is a science, but calculation is an art.

Science is knowledgeart is skill. You have all the knowledge you could possibly need to determine that 57 times 25 equals 1425, but if you are asked to multiply 57 by 25 and cannot do this mentally in just about one second, you are not adept at the art of calculation. Genuine skill in the calculating art can be acquired by any person of ordinary intelligence, no matter what his schooling may have been. To develop such skill is the purpose of this book. Special forms of short, graded exercises, performed for the most part mentally, lead the student by easy steps to a point where he will possess really exceptional calculating ability. 371 on page 191, you will find that you are expected to perform mentally such multiplications as 696 times 858, 858 times 878, etc. 371 on page 191, you will find that you are expected to perform mentally such multiplications as 696 times 858, 858 times 878, etc.

These are not trick examplesthe student who systematically performs the practice examples presented in this book will be able to do many kinds of examples of this degree of difficulty by his sheer ability to hold and manipulate figures in his head.How is this skill developed? Essentially by developing number sense. Number sense consists in the ability to recognize the relations that exist between numbers considered as whole quantities, and to work with the thought of their broad relations always uppermost. Number sense is possessed by many people in all walks of lifeparticularly by accountants, bookkeepers, estimators, cashiers, storekeepers and the like. On the other hand, it is absent in many who have an excellent understanding of advanced mathematics. The engineering professions are full of those who require slide rules to perform calculations which the average billing clerk would do mentally. To give an example of what is meant by number sense, suppose you were asked to multiply mentally 11625 by 12. If you felt at all competent to try to do so, you would probably (unless you are the exceptional case) proceed like this: 12 times 5 is 60, remember 0 and carry 6; 12 times 2 is 24, put 0 before the other 0 and carry 3, etc.

In this way you would eventually arrive at the correct answerif you did not get all mixed up in the meantime; but at best you would take a long time, because number sense would have played no part whatever in your awkward method of approaching this very simple little problem. Suppose now that we introduce a little of this number sensesuppose that instead of dealing with plain figures, you were told to imagine that you had sold twelve machines on each of which you made a commission of $11.62. As soon as money enters into the matter you immediately see the whole picture in a different light. If you were asked approximately how much your commissions amounted to, you would figure quick as a flash that 11 times 12 is 132, and you would probably answer instantly that you had made something over $132. If you were then asked how much over $132, you would either figure that 62 are of one dollar, or else that this amount is equal to half a dollar plus of a dollar. You would not take long in determining that the excess over $132 comes to $7 and that therefore the total amount received would be$139 or $139.50.

Why not apply to numbers in the raw the same methods that you use when dealing with small amounts of dollars and cents? It is no more difficult to multiply 11 thousands by 12 than 11 dollars. If 11 dollars times 12 is 139 dollars, then 11 thousands times 12 is 139 thousands, or 139,500. From this illustration you may correctly infer that the person with number sense works very largely from left to right instead of from right to left. Left-to-right calculation is of the essence of number sense. Countless practical people know this, yet the art of left-to-right calculation is never taught in the schools, and is, in fact, rarely mentioned in books of any kind. Step-by-step instruction and practice in this neglected art of left-to-right calculation constitutes the greater part of the substance of this book.

Methods of this kind are applied not only to multiplication but to all the fundamental operations. By means of such methods, for instance, you learn to add two columns of figures at a time, and you even get a little practice in three-column addition. You are also taught comparable methods of subtraction and division. In addition to the exercises having to do with left-to-right calculation, there are many that are based on an extension of the multiplication table. You are taught by easy stages to use all the numbers up to 25 as direct multipliersthat is to say, you acquire a complete knowledge of the multiplication table up to 25 times 25. The subject of fractions is treated with special reference to the addition and subtraction of the fractions that are most commonly met with in everyday work. The object here is to enable the student to memorize the answers to the kinds of problems that are ordinarily figured out over and over again.

The exercises dealing with decimals are designed to give the student a large workable fund of knowledge of the decimal equivalents of fractions. Memory work includes twelfths and sixteenths, and there is practice in the rapid calculation of thirty-seconds and twenty-fourths. The final broad subject developed in this book is short cuts. These are of the highest value in developing a general understanding of numbers. The subject matter of this book is limited to the four fundamental operations, with the inclusion of fractions and decimals. No attempt is made to consider the various fields of arithmetical application.

Skill in calculation pure and simple is the only goal. The exercises, nearly four hundred in number, are for the most part very short. Few should take more than ten minutes to do, and many will take less. As progress is by graded steps, the instruction is in small doses. The book, accordingly, can be used with profit whenever you happen to have a few free minutes. Its pocket size, moreover, makes it all the more suitable for odd-moment study.