Mathemagics - Mental Math Tricks

Travel back in time a few decades and many of the maths tricks taught in this app were known by schoolchildren.  Lacking calculators, tricks to quickly perform arithmetic and to check answers were extremely useful.  It is sad that many of these are no longer taught, as many can give you the answer quicker than you could get them from a calculator or calculator app.  Now knowledge of them is not universal it is difficult to build them back in as teachers themselves have grown up without them, and often without knowing that they exist.

This app is the link between these clever and convenient maths tricks and the children of today.  It is absolutely crammed full of them.  Old favourites, such as Casting Out Nines are there to check answers, alongside multiplication, summing and squaring tricks to get answers quickly. 

As well as providing the instructions in clear and precise text, the app also offers both practice and challenge modes to develop the skills and then test them.  The different tricks that the app can teach are easy to browse through and access.  Many of them have names that make it clear what type of questions they help with, but some of the others you’ll need to tap on and have a quick look at their purpose.  By their nature some are quite specific in their use and others quite broad.

Knowing these tricks isn’t just about speeding up arithmetic and becoming more accurate at it, although that is a big part of it, they are also interesting in their own right as mathematical enquires.  How and why does the Casting Out Nines trick tell you that the answer is definitely incorrect but cannot tell you that it is definitely correct? Pick any of the other tricks, how and why do they work? 

Many of these do seem like magic, but for the mathematically curious student, or a class set the task of investigating them, breaking them down, applying algebra and studying them reveals that they are understandable.

These insights into the fascinating workings of arithmetic are encased in a minimalist and elegantly designed app that is a joy to browse through.  The tasks and practice sections are intuitive to work with and are well matched to the section that they are designed to help test.  The challenges do their jobs effectively, offering useful practice, as the multiple options for an answer are usually close enough that the player really does have to use a mathematical technique to work them out.  A choice of playing against the clock or without any restrictions is available to the player.

This app has something to offer parents, teachers, and children.  Learning something new for your own benefit and to teach to children will be a satisfying use of this app.  Building a lesson around learning and investigating one of these tricks will give teachers a novel and useful activity for their class.  Children can learn one or more as an impressive trick to show friends and teachers and develop independent learning skills as they do so. 

With its unique content and excellent presentation, this app will make a great addition to any tablet whose owner has an interest in maths. 

You can download Mathemagics - Mental Math Tricks on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Mathemagics - Mental Math Tricks app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.