Calculate Faster Than a Calculator: FIVE Tricks for Quicker Calculations

Whenever we involve ourselves in a calculation, there’s always a compromise involved between accuracy and speed. If you try to be too accurate and sure with your calculations, you sacrifice your speed, and then, if you try to expedite, you sacrifice your accuracy.

So you see it’s all interlinked between one another unless you know the proven, systematic, tried and tested tricks to performing arithmetical operations in the blink of an eye. The following list can come in handy for you.

1. For squaring any number ending with 5

Just multiply the rest of the number APART FROM 5 with its successive number and record the answer with the number 25 in the end.

Example,

652 can be written as:

(6 * (6 + 1)) 25 = 4225.

2. For squaring ANY NUMBER

Whenever you are squaring a number, try to find out a simpler number nearby (one whose square you can find out in a jiffy( and consider it as your base.

Then, find out the deficiency of the given number to that of the base (only if the base is larger than that of your given number).

Add the deficiency to your number and multiply the result with the base.

And then, add the above result with the square of its deficiency to get the final answer that you were looking for at the start.

E.g.,

Let the problem be 782 for the sake of our explanation.

• Choose 80 as the base.

• Deficiency = 78 – 80 = -2.

• Given number + Deficiency = 78 + (-2) = 76.

• Multiplying the result above with that of the base = 76 * 80 = 6080.

• Add the result above with the square of the deficiency to get the final answer= 6080 + -22 = 6084

Thus, 6084 is the final result of the problem 782.

3. Any square can be calculated SEQUENTIALLY if the given number is a successor of a number with a KNOWN square

We’ll explain this straightaway with an example for easier comprehension.

Given problem = 1112

The given number 111 is a successor of 110 (a number with a known square).

The easiest way of finding the square of this number is:

1112 = 1102 + 110 + 111 = 12100 + 221 = 12321.

Similarly,

1412 = 1402 + 140 + 141 = 19881.

So now you should be able to quickly calculate the squares of 151 or 201 or any number successive to a number with a known square on your own. Practice them religiously every day to speed things up.

4. Adding and subtracting fractions

This is where we’ll use the “vertical and crosswise” method of Vedic Mathematics to get to the result as quickly as possible. Here’s how it works:

Given problem: 2/7 + 1/5

Numerator of the result = Cross multiply and then add = (2 X 5) + (7 X 1) = 17.

Denominator of the result = Just multiply the two denominators = (7 X 5) = 35.

Thus, the result we get in this case is 17/35.

Similarly,

5/6 + 7/8

Numerator = (5 X 8) + (6 X 7) = 82.

Denominator = (6 X 8) = 48.

Result = 82/48 = 41/24.

5. Multiplying any two digit number by 11

When multiplying any two digit number by 11, do the following:

If you are multiplying 35 (taken just for the sake of our explanation) with 11, write it this way-

                                  3 [sum of the two digits of the given number*, i.e., 3 and 5] 5

                                                                         = 3 [ 3+5*] 5

                                                                             = 385.

Another example,

23 X 11

= 2 [2+3*] 3

= 253

Note: *In case the sum of two digits is found to be a two digit number, keep the unit’s digit in place and add “1” to the digit preceding the [ ].

E.g.,

48 X 11

4 [4+8] 8

=4[12]8

Thus, we can see that we have got a two digit number in our [ ] zone. Hence, we’ll just retain the unit’s digits of those two, i.e., 2, and add 1 to the digit preceding the [ ], meaning:

4 +1 [2] 8

= 528.

So that’s it then. It’s time we bring this to a close for now. But before signing off, we would like to say that this is not even the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds and thousands of tricks in mathematics that can help you do your calculations quicker than that a calculator.

We will try our best to add to the list above with a few more tricks in the upcoming days. But for now, it’s time to say goodbye!