Customer Rating: 
Summary: Speed Mathematics - A copy of Vedic Mathematics
Comment: The ideas in this book are not original. The gifted scholar, Swami Sankaracharya, came up with these principles from the Vedas. He lived from 1884-1960. He wrote the book Vedic Mathematics by Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krsna Tirthaji Maharaja (His full name).
Why does Mr. Handley say you don't need to know the times tables of any #s except two. He never gave examples of any digits less than 7. For example, 5 X 5 = ?. With his method, you'll never know the answer because you'll subtract 5-5 and get zero but the remainders that you have to multiply to get the other # will be 5 X 5. So, the tricks do not work for all #s. There needs to be more clarity of when it will and will not work and give credit to whose ideas these math skills are!!!!!
Some basic skills in life every child needs to learn and one of them would be to memorize their time tables. No ifs, ands, or buts!
I would not buy this book because the preview chapter was proven wrong by me and I would not want to waste my money to find out where else the tricks are not working.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Speed Mathematics
Comment: Just a quick response to the "problem" problem of 97 x 97. I haven't read the book yet, so I was curious to see if this was real. Yes, if you are extremely literal, no if you use common sense. The answer would have to be in the thousands, not hundreds, so I put in a 0 before the last 9. It worked. I'm giving this book 5 stars in advance because of the interesting rebuttal by the author. I look forward to learning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Speed Mathematics
Comment: I found the topics enjoyable to read and the explanations quite clearly presented. Teach your children tables via a method, rather than by rote learning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reply By The Author
Comment: A farmer told me, Your methods don't help me milk the cows. He was right, and his comments were about as relevant as the two reviews by people who haven't read my book.
Firstly, Trachtenberg's book was criticised for similar reasons forty years ago. I was a fan of Trachtenberg and thought that the criticism was unfair because the critics had misunderstood the purpose of the book. The book was discarded by the critics as discredited. It was still read, and inspired a love for mathematics in many who went on to make their career in education or professions requiring mathematics.
My critic states he has not read my book and then says my book doesn't teach how to multiply large numbers mentally. It does. It teaches the same method as Trachtenberg. We both got our method from the same source. My book does not teach the two-finger method of multiplication. I have never liked it.
My book begins with a method for multiplying one and two-digit numbers. Using the method, children master their multiplication tables in minutes. Instead of being difficult to remember, and a disaster, very young children use the method to master their multiplication tables and learn their basic number facts in record time. Educational authorities and faculties of education in many universities around the world are recommending my books and my methods.
My critic states I don't explain the simple algebraic formula behind my methods. I do. This is the problem with criticising a book you haven't read. In fact, I give several explanations that can be understood by fourth grade students.
Trachtenberg teaches a separate formula for multiplication by each number up to twelve, each involving several steps. They are difficult to learn and to remember. I teach one simple formula that allows anyone to instantly master his or her tables up to the twenty times table and beyond.
My methods for long division and for finding square roots are also much easier to master than Trachtenberg's.
I do not mind criticism, but I like it to be fair and accurate. I have taught the methods around the world, taught thousands of teachers and student teachers, and hundreds of thousands of students. I have received a lot of feedback from students who tell me they are using the methods successfully in the classroom, and from technicians and engineers who are showing off on the job. Teachers of primary (elementary) school children tell me the children ask if they can do mathematics for the rest of the day. This is unheard of.
I have emails from professors of mathematics, from engineers and engineering students as well as young children, who tell me the book has opened up new horizons for them. No one has written that he or she found the methods difficult or the steps difficult to memorise. As you read the explanations in order you find it makes sense and there is no difficulty.
My critic's biggest mistake was that he did not understand the purpose of the book. It was not meant to teach anyone to milk their cows. Nor was the purpose to enable people to multiply six-digit numbers by five-digit numbers mentally, although it does teach this if you want to do it. The purpose is to teach an easy way to solve mathematical problems and to give an understanding of the basics of mathematics. I have plenty of email from children who found the methods easy, and it is interesting that students who excel at mathematics love the methods as well as the students who have believed they are mathematically hopeless. One benefit of the book is it not only teaches you how to solve problems, but it also teaches you what you say in your head to solve them.
Read the book for yourself and make up your own mind.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Methods don't work for large numbers
Comment: First, I must state that my comments are based on browsing this bookstore at my local bookstore. Having said that, I would also like to state that I can understand the secrets behind most of these techniques without really making a detailed reading.
So, I wanted to quickly get a sense of what techniques the authors uses. Specifically, I wanted to see if his techniques can be extended to multiply three or more digit numbers. No surprise. The method cannot. (I am not interested in techniques for special numbers. Those may be good, but I want a general method.)
The author introduces the Reference Method to multiply two numbers together such as 97 x 98. Most of us, when confronted with this will be stumped on how to multiply this in their heads. However, by recognizing that both these numbers are close to 100, and that 100 x 100 is easy, a simple technique can then be devised to "correct" for the deviation from 100. The technique is based on the simple algebraic equation (which the author doesn't state, but if he did, it would make the Reference Method a lot easier to remember than going through the reams of pages he devotes to the explanation): 97 x 98 = (100-3)x(100-2) = 100 x 100 (easy) -100(2 + 3)(easy) + 6 = 10,000 - 500 + 6 = 9500 + 6 = 9506. The "Reference number" is 100 and gives the starting point as 10,000. But what happens when we want to multiply 13 x 54? In this case, we would like to start out with 10 (for 13) and 50 (for 54) giving us 10 x 50 = 500. In other words, we use 2 Reference Numbers: 10 and 50. Next, we make the corrections from here. Once again, the basic algebraic equation doesn't change: (10 + 3)X(50 + 4). But, now the steps to make the correction increase. And, mind you, you have to memorize all these steps.
But, here is the killer: To extend the Reference Method to multiply large numbers becomes onerous. For simplicity, try this multiplication which only uses 1 Reference number, 200: 187 x 183. This leads to (200-13)x(200-17). And, now you have to multiply 13x17 in your head, which is not as simple as say, 5x6. In other words, you have to apply the same technique to multiply 13x17, using either 10 or 20 as your Reference Number. Then, you will need to use this result for the original number, that is if you are not thoroughly confused by now.
The author, of course, argues that with practice, this becomes easy. While this may be true, there is a lot of pain involved to get there, and there is no guarantee that you will remember these steps always. Most likely, you will forget them.
Not only his the technique of Reference Methods poor in that it cannot be extended, it's very poorly presented.
After his disastrous attempt to demonstrate multiplication, I did not bother to browse further but promptly put the book back on the shelf.
The Tractenberg System is far superior, easier, scalable to numbers with greater digits (for example, I have no problem in multiplying 1234 x 342 in my head) and the technique is consistent for digits of all lengths. The author does mention this method in his preface to this book. He should have ended his book at that.
I am sure that using Tractenberg's system, I can beat the author in multiplying numbers.
Summary: Speed Mathematics - A copy of Vedic Mathematics
Comment: The ideas in this book are not original. The gifted scholar, Swami Sankaracharya, came up with these principles from the Vedas. He lived from 1884-1960. He wrote the book Vedic Mathematics by Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krsna Tirthaji Maharaja (His full name).
Why does Mr. Handley say you don't need to know the times tables of any #s except two. He never gave examples of any digits less than 7. For example, 5 X 5 = ?. With his method, you'll never know the answer because you'll subtract 5-5 and get zero but the remainders that you have to multiply to get the other # will be 5 X 5. So, the tricks do not work for all #s. There needs to be more clarity of when it will and will not work and give credit to whose ideas these math skills are!!!!!
Some basic skills in life every child needs to learn and one of them would be to memorize their time tables. No ifs, ands, or buts!
I would not buy this book because the preview chapter was proven wrong by me and I would not want to waste my money to find out where else the tricks are not working.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Speed Mathematics
Comment: Just a quick response to the "problem" problem of 97 x 97. I haven't read the book yet, so I was curious to see if this was real. Yes, if you are extremely literal, no if you use common sense. The answer would have to be in the thousands, not hundreds, so I put in a 0 before the last 9. It worked. I'm giving this book 5 stars in advance because of the interesting rebuttal by the author. I look forward to learning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Speed Mathematics
Comment: I found the topics enjoyable to read and the explanations quite clearly presented. Teach your children tables via a method, rather than by rote learning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reply By The Author
Comment: A farmer told me, Your methods don't help me milk the cows. He was right, and his comments were about as relevant as the two reviews by people who haven't read my book.
Firstly, Trachtenberg's book was criticised for similar reasons forty years ago. I was a fan of Trachtenberg and thought that the criticism was unfair because the critics had misunderstood the purpose of the book. The book was discarded by the critics as discredited. It was still read, and inspired a love for mathematics in many who went on to make their career in education or professions requiring mathematics.
My critic states he has not read my book and then says my book doesn't teach how to multiply large numbers mentally. It does. It teaches the same method as Trachtenberg. We both got our method from the same source. My book does not teach the two-finger method of multiplication. I have never liked it.
My book begins with a method for multiplying one and two-digit numbers. Using the method, children master their multiplication tables in minutes. Instead of being difficult to remember, and a disaster, very young children use the method to master their multiplication tables and learn their basic number facts in record time. Educational authorities and faculties of education in many universities around the world are recommending my books and my methods.
My critic states I don't explain the simple algebraic formula behind my methods. I do. This is the problem with criticising a book you haven't read. In fact, I give several explanations that can be understood by fourth grade students.
Trachtenberg teaches a separate formula for multiplication by each number up to twelve, each involving several steps. They are difficult to learn and to remember. I teach one simple formula that allows anyone to instantly master his or her tables up to the twenty times table and beyond.
My methods for long division and for finding square roots are also much easier to master than Trachtenberg's.
I do not mind criticism, but I like it to be fair and accurate. I have taught the methods around the world, taught thousands of teachers and student teachers, and hundreds of thousands of students. I have received a lot of feedback from students who tell me they are using the methods successfully in the classroom, and from technicians and engineers who are showing off on the job. Teachers of primary (elementary) school children tell me the children ask if they can do mathematics for the rest of the day. This is unheard of.
I have emails from professors of mathematics, from engineers and engineering students as well as young children, who tell me the book has opened up new horizons for them. No one has written that he or she found the methods difficult or the steps difficult to memorise. As you read the explanations in order you find it makes sense and there is no difficulty.
My critic's biggest mistake was that he did not understand the purpose of the book. It was not meant to teach anyone to milk their cows. Nor was the purpose to enable people to multiply six-digit numbers by five-digit numbers mentally, although it does teach this if you want to do it. The purpose is to teach an easy way to solve mathematical problems and to give an understanding of the basics of mathematics. I have plenty of email from children who found the methods easy, and it is interesting that students who excel at mathematics love the methods as well as the students who have believed they are mathematically hopeless. One benefit of the book is it not only teaches you how to solve problems, but it also teaches you what you say in your head to solve them.
Read the book for yourself and make up your own mind.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Methods don't work for large numbers
Comment: First, I must state that my comments are based on browsing this bookstore at my local bookstore. Having said that, I would also like to state that I can understand the secrets behind most of these techniques without really making a detailed reading.
So, I wanted to quickly get a sense of what techniques the authors uses. Specifically, I wanted to see if his techniques can be extended to multiply three or more digit numbers. No surprise. The method cannot. (I am not interested in techniques for special numbers. Those may be good, but I want a general method.)
The author introduces the Reference Method to multiply two numbers together such as 97 x 98. Most of us, when confronted with this will be stumped on how to multiply this in their heads. However, by recognizing that both these numbers are close to 100, and that 100 x 100 is easy, a simple technique can then be devised to "correct" for the deviation from 100. The technique is based on the simple algebraic equation (which the author doesn't state, but if he did, it would make the Reference Method a lot easier to remember than going through the reams of pages he devotes to the explanation): 97 x 98 = (100-3)x(100-2) = 100 x 100 (easy) -100(2 + 3)(easy) + 6 = 10,000 - 500 + 6 = 9500 + 6 = 9506. The "Reference number" is 100 and gives the starting point as 10,000. But what happens when we want to multiply 13 x 54? In this case, we would like to start out with 10 (for 13) and 50 (for 54) giving us 10 x 50 = 500. In other words, we use 2 Reference Numbers: 10 and 50. Next, we make the corrections from here. Once again, the basic algebraic equation doesn't change: (10 + 3)X(50 + 4). But, now the steps to make the correction increase. And, mind you, you have to memorize all these steps.
But, here is the killer: To extend the Reference Method to multiply large numbers becomes onerous. For simplicity, try this multiplication which only uses 1 Reference number, 200: 187 x 183. This leads to (200-13)x(200-17). And, now you have to multiply 13x17 in your head, which is not as simple as say, 5x6. In other words, you have to apply the same technique to multiply 13x17, using either 10 or 20 as your Reference Number. Then, you will need to use this result for the original number, that is if you are not thoroughly confused by now.
The author, of course, argues that with practice, this becomes easy. While this may be true, there is a lot of pain involved to get there, and there is no guarantee that you will remember these steps always. Most likely, you will forget them.
Not only his the technique of Reference Methods poor in that it cannot be extended, it's very poorly presented.
After his disastrous attempt to demonstrate multiplication, I did not bother to browse further but promptly put the book back on the shelf.
The Tractenberg System is far superior, easier, scalable to numbers with greater digits (for example, I have no problem in multiplying 1234 x 342 in my head) and the technique is consistent for digits of all lengths. The author does mention this method in his preface to this book. He should have ended his book at that.
I am sure that using Tractenberg's system, I can beat the author in multiplying numbers.