What is Mental Maths About?

Though mental maths differs in purpose from the classroom written maths, they complements each other in that answers to simple written sub-steps of the overall solution can be done faster without the hassle of pressing the buttons of a calculator. The flexibility in doing mental maths also enables learners to apply different methods to solving complex problems by breaking them down to smaller manageable chunks.

The approach to mental maths solving also takes a totally different path. The conventional written maths begins with the rightmost digit and ending with leftmost digit. For mental maths, the computation is reversed. This is so because of the reading habit of humans. The human brain reads from the left to the right. Therefore it computes easily from left to right.

Another difference between the written and mental approach is the way the steps are done. In the written form, the calculation steps are straight forward and aiming towards the outcome. A single working step can contain many numbers and mathematical operations.The objective is to have the least number of steps as possible. Sometimes, with the aid of a calculator, getting the numerical figure is just a step or two away. For mental maths, all calculations are done within the brain and the steps have to be kept simple for the brain to handle. Too many complex computations or numbers will make computation mentally challenging. As such, for this approach, the steps are simplified and may requires many iterations of the same steps. It is sometimes necessary to split a large number to a few smaller number for ease of manipulation. An example is to split 23 to 10 + 10 + 3. The aim is to use the number 10, 2 or 1 in mental computation as they are deemed easier to handle.

Flexibility in the operation has also to be applied. Division by a large number can be done easily with the help of a calculator in a single step. But for mental division, the process has to be done using small number and repeated a few times. Sometimes, twist to conventional calculation has to be done. An example is to perform the maths operation "x5". A simpler way is to "x 10", followed by "/2". Though two steps are needed, mentally, the two steps are easier to calculate than the "x 5" computation. Flexibility is therefore necessary coupled with an acceptable level of basic maths understanding.

Mental maths is still maths but differs only in the way the questions are solved. It biases towards solving maths questions mentally as compared to the conventional written style. Its applications are more time-immediate in nature. An example is the calculation of changes when paying for goods purchased. This differs from the written approach in that the written method is geared more towards applications requiring visual presentation, for example, in maths exam or classroom tutorials.

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