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#1 2006-11-03 22:54:08

Toast
Real Member
Registered: 2006-10-08
Posts: 1,321

Shortcuts in math

List any shortcuts you've discovered:P:

Here's a simple one,
I just remembered back to when I had a discussion with a friend in 5th grade about the multiples of 11, and noticed that whenever a two digit number was multiplied by it, the answer was the sum of the two digits, whose result was placed in between them.
e.g

11*54=594 as 5+4 = 9
11*23=253 as 2+3 = 5

This mostly useless little novelty can work fast and efficiently as long as the digits don't add to 10 or more, in which case you're equally better off doing normal multiplication.

Last edited by Toast (2006-11-04 00:06:40)

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#2 2006-11-03 23:27:50

luca-deltodesco
Member
Registered: 2006-05-05
Posts: 1,470

Re: Shortcuts in math

Toast wrote:

List any shortcuts you've discovered:P:

Here's a simple one,
I just remembered back to when I had a discussion with a friend in 5th grade about the multiples of 11, and noticed that whenever a two digit number was multiplied by it, the answer was the sum of the two digits, whose result was placed in between them.
e.g

im bored, so im giong to prove that.

the two digit number can be represented as



also, i wanted to add this this morning but i had to leave.


for integer multiplications of 9 up to 9x10 the sum of the two digits always adds up to 9, and the first digit is always the multiplication - 1

eg.  9*5 = 45,  4+5 = 9, 4=5-1
eg.  9*7 = 63,  6+3 = 9, 6=7-1

i find this one very helpful, although now its more a case of 'just knowing it' rather than applying this rule

Last edited by luca-deltodesco (2006-11-04 06:37:26)


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The End Of All Things To Come.

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#3 2006-11-04 09:39:21

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Shortcuts in math

I have a few towards the bottom of this page: Multiplication - Times Tables

It might be interesting to compile a whole page of them.


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#4 2006-11-05 00:11:40

Toast
Real Member
Registered: 2006-10-08
Posts: 1,321

Re: Shortcuts in math

Hmmm, I've only looked briefly at everything else apart from the forum; i think i'll go look around now tongue

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#5 2006-11-05 05:55:42

mathsyperson
Moderator
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 4,900

Re: Shortcuts in math

Toast wrote:

List any shortcuts you've discovered:P:

Here's a simple one,
I just remembered back to when I had a discussion with a friend in 5th grade about the multiples of 11, and noticed that whenever a two digit number was multiplied by it, the answer was the sum of the two digits, whose result was placed in between them.

I'm not bored, but I'm going to disprove that.

77*11 = 847 ≠ 7147


Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

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#6 2006-11-05 06:35:15

Zach
Member
Registered: 2005-03-23
Posts: 2,075

Re: Shortcuts in math

Put the number in the middle and add anything more than a single digit to the beginning, I think was the rule.

55 * 11 = 605
66 * 11 = 726
77 * 11 = 847
88 * 11 = 968
99 * 11 = 1089


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I bet you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player too.
And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you.

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#7 2006-11-06 07:31:52

Devantè
Real Member
Registered: 2006-07-14
Posts: 6,400

Re: Shortcuts in math

mathsyperson wrote:
Toast wrote:

List any shortcuts you've discovered:P:

Here's a simple one,
I just remembered back to when I had a discussion with a friend in 5th grade about the multiples of 11, and noticed that whenever a two digit number was multiplied by it, the answer was the sum of the two digits, whose result was placed in between them.

I'm not bored, but I'm going to disprove that.

77*11 = 847 ≠ 7147

You've used the rule in the wrong sense wink ; Using the rule Toast told us at the top of the forum;

77

7+7 = 14

Put a 0 in between the two 7s: 707

Multiply the sum of the two 7s by 10: 7+7 = 14, 14x10 = 140

707+140 = 847

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#8 2006-11-06 09:22:52

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Shortcuts in math

Or just add neighboring digits as you go:

Units: 7
Tens: (7+7=14)7
Hundreds: (7+1)47
Answer: 847

But the topic "Shortcuts in math" is not just arithmetic, right?

I remember I had an assignment to find the maximum volume of a solid given various constraints which included surface area. I think I was supposed to create the formula, differentiate it and find a maxima. But instead I just said "the optimum solution is a sphere, and the closest this object can get to a sphere is (sizes)". Luckily I was right.


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#9 2006-11-06 09:40:37

pi man
Member
Registered: 2006-07-06
Posts: 251

Re: Shortcuts in math

It's not a shortcut but more of a verification.   If a number is evenly divisible by 3, the sum of it's digits is divisble by 3.   

123:   1 + 2 + 3 = 6, therefore divisible by 3 (41)
943:  9 + 4 + 3 = 16, therefore not divisble by 3 (314.333)
123456789:   1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9 = 45, therefore divisible by 3 (41152263)

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#10 2006-11-06 18:05:18

Toast
Real Member
Registered: 2006-10-08
Posts: 1,321

Re: Shortcuts in math

Um, ok you can put all the shortcuts you've ever found in math (not just arithmetic), just so long as this doesn't become an infinitely broad topic tongue

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#11 2006-11-07 02:24:15

Jai Ganesh
Administrator
Registered: 2005-06-28
Posts: 45,956

Re: Shortcuts in math

Toast,
I use the casting off of 9s, as a shortcut.
Here's an illustration.
23 x 4 = 92.
The ssum of 2 and 3 is 5. 5x4=20. Therefore, the result should also have a successive sum of digits equal to 2. You can see that 9+2=11, and 1+1=2 smile


It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

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#12 2006-11-08 19:21:57

Toast
Real Member
Registered: 2006-10-08
Posts: 1,321

Re: Shortcuts in math

When you're using the Pythagorean theorem and you have sides of equal length:



The base multiplied by the square root of the number of terms being sqrted gives the answer.


*Only works to the power of 2*

Last edited by Toast (2006-11-08 19:22:53)

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