Saludos!

Hm… someone i didn’t know called me “brainy” in highschool, that’s all i remember. Never put much attention tho and i don’t like to be a poser, so i guess i was unnoticed. Something funny now its that when i say which carreer i graduated in people take for granted im a living calculator

Wrong said: “I said I hated those who brag about their math abilities.”

Again, im sorry if my article seems like some short of bragging. As all my articles they are intended to help people and/or show my works and get some good feedback like your comments.

Wrong said: “I meant to present another reason for me to care less for mastering math tricks (remember I said I doubted their usefulness) and focus more on other things”

Mastering math tricks can be fun and also can be useless, it all depends on the environment. If you are a cashier without a helping machine they can prove being very useful. If someone has problems learning certain formula, maybe a math trick can take him in the right path to learn it or use it faster. So, even thought what you say about Mexico its true, don’t discard math tricks as a help (and i dont say people has to master them).

Hehe, you brought me back some memories. Thanks for the comments again.

I didn’t say I hate people who mock those with math abilities, I said I hated those who brag about their math abilities. Bragging and mocking is not the same thing. Anyway, to make it even clearer: the kind of stuff I dislike is (people who say or show the stuff like following in their attitude):

“I’m so cool because I can do so fast”

“I’m so good at arithmetics and algebra, I’m a genius”

“I need no calculator, I can do all math operations in my mind, people who use calculators are plain stupid/inferior/retarded.”

“I’m just intellectually superior. Stupid people, I can’t stand them.”

Whether they say this or express it in their behavior.

Now, in my previously posted comment I meant to say “NOT very easily”, otherwise it’d sound like I were taking credit off you, for having presented the content in the format you used.

Another point, when I talked about corruption and so forth, I meant to present another reason for me to care less for mastering math tricks (remember I said I doubted their usefulness) and focus more on other things, such as -at least in the case of Mexico- how to make the contacts that will help you achieve what you’re after.

Thus, giving some foundation to my doubts. Hopefully I did a better job making myself clear this time, instead of giving rise to new misunderstandings.

El se refería, primero, a la gente que se burla de los que tienen alguna habilidad matemática (que también me tocó vivirlo en alguna ocasión) y como nos pre-juician sin conocernos.

En segundo, a cómo nuestros valores van “de bajada” y la corrupción deja pasar a “profesionistas” que no saben siquiera sumar. Lo que me recuerda el comercial donde la enfermera le dice al Doctor Balín, -Doctor, allí no está el baso. Y el Doctor recuerda cómo compro su Título PIRATA..

Eso es más o menos lo que me Wrong por el chat.

En fin, a mi si me gusto, ya utilizo algunos trucos que mencionas, pero nunca se me ocurrio lo de hacer la multiplicacion de esa manera, esta muy interesante, saludos!

It also brings the prejudice of the people thinking fast arithmetics implies a gifted brain, or being a genius. It brings a image to my head of someone bragging of how fast they can compute this or that. Which makes me despise it.

Furthermore in a country like Mexico with so much corruption, what one kinda has rely on is contacts. Now, relying on other people doesn’t necessarily relate to corruption; nowadays with interdisciplinary teams working for a common goal, even the government has been stressing the need for teamwork thru its education methods. Indeed, communication skills, a good attitude for teamwork might as well be mandatory, more even so in today’s world.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t read the whole thing, it’s very easily digested, most likely because of its nature, as opposed to how you put it together.

In Japan, arithmetic tricks just had a boom with the influence of these Indian “magic methods”; arguing that Japan is slightly falling behind in math.

Some of the stuff you present, I use it sometimes. Also when it comes to fractions, I often try to factorize to hopefully reduce the factions and what not.

For the first example, I’d use 1+…+n = n(n+1)/2, but I see that you’re using it as an easy example to show a more generic technique you could say.