Hi folks…. Hope you guys and gals are number healthy. Today we will be looking into a new way of performing addition. I have to say this, that this method is not originated from me. In line to make Maths fun and easy to understand for all, I had done some research. Result : Scott Flansburg appeared to be the top of the list. Then I started to read and learn what makes Scott’s way of addition so different from the one they teach in school. (At least the way they thought me in school)
Well, one obvious difference was Scott teaches us Maths the way our mind actually perceives the problem. Have you seen the ‘Mind Map’ concept made famous by Tony Buzan? What Mr. Buzan actually did in his concept was to teach a method of understanding and remembering the way our mind actually remembers things. Meaning, you do not force it down to your brain but instead naturally allows it to flow into it.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Well, the 1st lesson in engineering school that was thought to me by my professor was ‘Do not design anything against nature. Nature is there to guide and help us. Make alliance with nature in every single design. GO AGAINST NATURE AND YOU ARE KNOCKING ON DOOMS DOOR’. I believe this is what both Mr. Buzan & Mr. Flansburg are trying to do in their teachings.
Let’s take an example to illustrate what I say a little clearer. Assuming you are given the problem below. Normally we are thought in our school to approach the numbers given from right to left. That means, add the numbers (5 + 4 + 1 + 6) = 16. This means 1 will be carried over to the tens column and 6 remains in the one’s column. Next we will be adding the tens column which adds up to 8. Finally, we will be adding the hundreds column which gives us the value 6. Then we read everything from left to right and we obtain 686.
Example 1
225 225 225 225
124 124 124 124
221 221 221 221
+ 116 + 116 + 116 + 116
6 86 686
Now some might say that this is not so hard. Maybe true but can you duplicate this to compute faster mentally for larger numbers? Now this might make us wander.
Let’s approach this the ‘Scott Flansburg’ style. Scott tells us not to compute from right to left. But instead compute from left to right, the same way we utter the final answer and the way our brain really imagine the number. We start of with adding the hundreds column. We know that it adds up to 6. Next we look to the tens column and at a glance we realize that the tens column adds to be less than 10. Thus the value for hundreds column remains as 6.This indicates that the answer should be in the range of 600++. If the tens column adds up to be more than 10 then we should add 1 to the 6 earlier. Next look to the tens column, the value adds up to be 7, but values at the single digit produces a sum more than 10. Thus we add 1 to the 7 earlier to produce 8. This gives us a total of 680 ++ now. Finally looking at the one’s column, we have a total value of 16. In which, the 1 has been carried forward earlier. Thus the final result will be 686 as illustrated in the diagram below.
225 225 225 225
124 124 124 124
221 221 221 221
+ 116 + 116 + 116 + 116
6 67 68 686
Now, isn’t that faster? You could immediately start telling the answer out loud as you are calculating the similar method as you are pronouncing it. This is very much easier compared to computing from right to left, remembering the all the numbers and telling it out aloud finally from left to right. It becomes even more difficult if the numbers become bigger.
And finally, nothing is perfected without practice. Practice, practice and more practice makes it simple,fun and easy. Try the numbers below and have fun with addition today. As you become more and more familiar to this technique, you’ll be surprised that you are actually calculating faster than the calculator. Trust me it happens.
345 615 225 225
116 142 124 124
214 515 221 221
+ 123 + 113 + 116 + 116
516 845 789 368
237 432 456 412
132 136 123 618
+ 175 + 246 + 246 + 231
Have fun and be number healthy folks…..
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