Secret of Fast Mental Math revealed...

Learn to race against a speeding calculator.

Is there an easy way to calculate?

I am sure you must have asked this question at least once in your life.  Have you ever wondered why some people are so good at number crunching, while others struggle to add even the single digits correctly or without straining their mind.

Cheer up !!   Today, we would be learning the techniques of faster mental Math calculations.

Points to be noted  :-

1)   If you are in a hurry to learn (perhaps your test is tomorrow), then directly skip to my EasyCal Fast Math Videos .

This link would take you to the video playlists embedded at the bottom of this page. You can watch the fast Math videos to learn the techniques of faster Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, finding Percentages etc.  

2)  However, if you are here to acquire a long-lasting learning, and above all, a lifelong love of Mathematics, then kindly allow me to hold your hand and dive-in deep.



I have put a lot of thinking in presenting the information without overwhelming your mind. This is not an AI-generated bulk content, but a human-to-human teaching. 

Bon Voyage !



Shahryar Badar Khan 
Maths teacher & Director
www.Glad2teach.com



3)     Fluency in Mathematics in not attained in one sitting. It takes practice. So focus on learning one technique at a time. 

4)     As a teacher, I believe that learning should be savoured (enjoyed) and not swallowed like a bitter pill. This belief reflects in my style of teaching as well.

15 years ago, I chose the name Glad2teach as I felt that way. I still do. 

5)    I have kept this page long scroll (linear), so that you do not have to keep jumping from one page to the next searching. 
All the useful information is nicely embedded in a single page. 

6)    I have chosen not to embedded any ads. Even the videos from my Youtube Channel would play here without the ads. Why?   
I want you to remain 100% focused. No distractions.   

7)   If you find my sample videos useful, you may consider supporting me by buying the Complete Tutorial. You will get the practice worksheets (in the printable PDF format). 

This complete set has one worksheet for each video. Each worksheet has 3 levels - Easy, Medium, Hard with answers (with easy mouse-over effect) and with easy to access solutions (using the Check It and Go back buttons) for every question. 


8)  I provide tutoring on specific Math topics (as per your school curriculum) you may need help with.  Contact me (link) if you need a Maths tutor for yourself or your children. 

9) Finally, if you have purchased the EasyCal tutorial (download file) in the past, you can visit this page to download it afresh. In fact, anybody can download/install the files to play them for 5 days. It works on Windows PC only.  If you have purchased the lifetime license, then register your product to unlock it for unlimited days.  Table of content has been added in the 1st Series as well. 

Dear Student,

Mathematics is the language of numbers.

Just like we understand any other language, our mind can be trained to process numbers without always requiring appendages such as pen, paper, fingers or a calculator. 

The premise is simple. If our mind can be taught to fluently comprehend English having 26 letters (A to Z), it can be taught to do the same with Mathematics.

After all, Math has only 10 letters (0 to 9 digits). 

Let us learn how. Watch the video below. 

Read these FAQs later. First watch the video below them.


Do you know Mathematics is called Math in USA & Canada, Maths in Europe, UK, India and Australia. 

What's in a name? Call Maths by any other name, it'll be the same. A universal language of numbers.

Ques 1:  So do you know the name of the Counting System we use today ? 

We do not use the Roman Numeral System. Of course !

We use DPVS.  It stands for Decimal Place Value System.

Ideas never come fully formed and have to be bettered over a long period of time. We are blessed with a final product that we humans have perfected over 2000 years of refinement. Despite that, some of us complain of Math calculations being hard. I am sure you are not among them :)

Come on. We must give it a thought for human ingenuity. 



Ques 2:  How does Decimal Place Value System work ?  

Decimal stands for Base 10 and its exponents (powers). That is

100 = 1  (units)
101 = 10  (tens)
102 = 100  (hundreds)
103 = 1000  (thousands) .. Like that

Place Value means that farther the place (position) of a digit from the extreme right, greater its value is.  Each step away from right increases the value of a digit by a power of 10. 

For Eg, 

8. = 8  (at 1st place, Units, so just eight )

8_. = 80   (at 2nd place, Tens, so eighty )

8_ _ . = 800   (at 3rd place, Hundreds, eight hundred)

8_ _ _. = 8000  (at 4th place, Thousands, eight thousand)

So on. 


It actually took mankind 2000 years to come up with this simple concept of Place Value. Prior to that, Roman Counting was in use which was a remarkable system of its time but lacked Place Values.

For Eg:  888 = DCCCLXXXVIII

In this example Romans had to use 12 bits of their brain power for which we use 3 bits today. This is a clear 4X improvement in processing speed by simply using a more compact notation. But wait till we power-on the heart of DVPS, that is Base10. There would be a jaw-dropping 10X increment in your speed. 

All this simply means our counting system repeats itself after every 10. 


Ques 3:  If Decimal System is so good then why is my calculation speed so bad ? 

Hmm....good question! Have you heard the story of a father, his son and their chain saw. 

Long ago there was a village, in which a lumberjack (woodcutter) use to live. His daily job was to cut and chop trees. His rusty but trusty cross-cut saw was more than a decade old. One day it got broken. He needed its replacement thus asked his son who lived in the city to send him a new one. His caring son wanted to make his father's work easier. He sent him a motorized chain saw capable of slicing even the thickest of trees in few minutes. 

After a month, the son visited his father in the village and found him in a miserable state. He looked distraught. Father did not want to dishearten his beloved son by picking faults with his gift, however, he was utterly disappointed with the new saw. 

Upon being asked, he disclosed that the new saw was painfully slow to work with.

The surprised son closely inspected the saw. It looked alright. He pulled started it. After a few hiccups, its motor came roaring to life. Father got startled with its loud noise as he had heard it for the first time. 


Ques 4:  What is the moral of this story ? 

Read the user-manual first.

Well, in the absence of proper instructions, father had been using motorized saw without powering on. Imagine his ordeal. What was meant to be an upgrade, had made his life utterly miserable.

So you get it. 


Ques 5:  How do you 'power-on' the Decimal System? 

Yeah! Now we are talking.

Vedic Mathematics (System of Calculation) from India comes closest to the original system of counting.  

If you are from India, chances are, you would have already tried to study Vedic Mathematics, found it to be theoretical (read: less practical), thus gave up on it.  How do I know that ? (Read this later)

Thus, I would not flabbergast you again with those magnificent 16 Sutras (Aphorisms/Algorithms) and 13 Sub-Sutras in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is one of the world's oldest language. The sacred Hindu scriptures Vedas are written in it. 

I would focus on teaching you Applied Vedic Maths based my understanding and interpretation, in plain vanilla English. I would help you absorb the essence of knowledge (read: distilled wisdom ) of the ancient Hindu Sages from India.

 This would save us time and give us a head start in our journey. 

Lastly, no mental Math technique would do us any good, if our mind cannot hold the numbers in it. Can you juggle with the balls, if your hands cannot grip them ?

We would be working to improve your STM. STM is the Short Term Memory. Fortunately, three simple techniques are needed to get the job done.

1) Chunking (groupings the number)
2) Phonological Looping ( instant repetition of any sound )
3) Visuospatial Sketchpad  (ability to 'see' the numbers in your head)


Play the video below. 




Practice makes us perfect. Solve the worksheet below. 

I have made a 5 min instructional video for you. It covers the best way of using the embedded Worksheets. Click on the Blue Button below.


Do you like this approach of learning ?

Let me tell you an interesting fact.
  



Our mind always seeks to get maximum work done using minimum effort.

This makes us super productive . We want that at a click of a button ( that too if absolutely unavoidable ) everything should be done. Our clothes and dishes washed, our food cooked, our rooms cleaned, our Algebra homework done.

I am sure you could have solved the question above using the harder way (read: inefficient way) .  But you chose not to as your mind knew that it was not the easy (read: efficient) way of doing it.

The person who is good at Math knows by default how to use this quality of mind to his advantage. His mind automatically chooses the path of least resistance (read: a short cut). 

Thus the easiest way to become a Math Genius is to think like one. That is what these EasyCal techniques train your mind to do.



Tell me honestly, while watching the video above didn't you feel like a Math Genius for a moment. So watch another five minute EasyCal Math video below (Trick No. 15) and then tell me if you got that 'Aha' moment.


Is there a change in your thinking ?

You are calculating faster now.

The question is : Faster than what ?

# Your previous self
# Your friends / family / classmates
# Your calculator


People who are even 'human calculators' are not faster than it. May be at par if they are exceptional.

Does calculator take 'any' time at all to calculate moment we hit that 'equal to' button. Isn't the answer displayed instantly ?   

People who claim to be faster than a calculator are merely faster than another human being using that calculator. No matter how agile our fingers are, yet it takes time (& effort) to input number data in a calculator.

So can we beat a calculator ?

No, but we can beat a person who is using that calculator. 


I meant metaphorically :) 



We can program our mind to swiftly input & process number data.

We can use our eyes (@Water level) or ears (@Air Level) to directly input Mathematical data in our Inferior Parietal Cortex (IPC), also called Inferior Parietal Lobe (IPL). 

If you prefer to keep our discussion non-technical (avoid human anatomy & psychology) skip this entire grey box.

I personally feel that one must know thyself.



Let me explain to you in simple words. IPL is our brain's visual engine that coverts a stimulus (an incoming information) into spatial representation (an image).  This happens in real time (super fast processing)


All of us activate our IPL when dealing with the language we speak. Whether you speak a sentence or hear someone speaking, your brain instantly starts converting spoken words into visuals. 

Those of us who have an amazing grip over number (called Memory Span of Digits) fully activate their IPL when dealing with numbers as well. 

Simply said, they see and feel the numbers.  To them numbers are not dead sounds but are spatial images. 


Spatial is the adjective of the noun space (not to be confused with the word 'Special'). Spatial images created by IPL carry a sense of location/position/structure with subtle emotions (feel).

You must have heard of the Number Sense. This is what it is. Even animals have it to some extent. 


If I say the word 'Rapunzel', what do you see ? Perhaps an image of a princess with long braided hair, waiting at a high window of her castle. Did you also feel an emotion for this damsel in distress as she is lonely ?    

Rapunzel was just one word, amongst the thousands that your brain knows in English right now. All I have to do is say a word. The sound of the word instantly trigger its image and feel in your mind. The IPL (your image engine) gets activated. Even generic words like 'cat' or 'frog' would elicit an 'image and feel' response from your IPL. Doesn't it ? They are more than sounds to you.

Now if I say the number '674859' what image did your brain conjure up ? Did you feel any emotion as well ?

Or was 674859 a dead sound to you ? 

Let me phrase this test differently.

Can you think of any number that makes you see and feel anything ? Come on. Try it. We all have few special numbers in life.

Now imagine how effortlessly you would be able to hold and process numbers if you could see and feel every number. You would not need any external devices like pen and paper to deal with them. You can play by ear.

See this video below to understand what I am talking about. As the numbers get called out (@Air Level) I see them in my head on the Number Table. I visualize their position/location in my head, thus able to hold them temporarily. This improves my STM  (Short Term Memory) and gives me a good grip.

Learning the mental Math techniques alone would not be effective unless your mind knows how to hold the numbers. 



This is no magic, rather this is how we all should be able to process numbers upon activating our IPL (image engine).  Mathematics is a language. To become fluent with it we must learn to process it using the same part of our brain that we use to effortlessly process our mother tongue.

We would be covering this in detail in later videos. See my demonstration below.  I chunk them in 2 or more digits at a time, to make them easy to hold and process.







Have you heard of the story of 2 Mathematician friends who were confronted by a wild bear ? 

One of the friends immediately started to run. The other friend shouted that it was impossible to outrun a grizzly@48 km/hr

The friend who had the headstart shouted back "Buddy, I am outrunning you@9 km/hr"

C'est la vie . That is life. 


In any Competitive Exam, you are not asked to mentally out-calculate a calculator (Grizzly) but your fellow exam takers.

Calculators are not allowed en masse.

Even if you marginally improved your mental Math over others, you would survive being eliminated.  One extra mark would suffice.  With the level of numeracy so dismal around the world,  you can easily outshine. 

I have not set these rules, I am just teaching you to play by them.  In fact, I have hated all my life such cut-throat competitive exams. In my country India, they are a norm for every student. That is how we separate wheat from the chaff and create those future CEOs of Google and Microsoft.   A student is required to be better than the rest.

Is Education a fierce race to beat others ?  

Or is it a journey of self-betterment ?



Why do we compare and compete all the time ?

Even a tough sportsperson chokes under the acute pressure of expectation, let alone a young student.  Our children are always expected to be better than their classmates and eventually become top rankers in IITs and IIMs. 


A skill is learnt for self-enlightenment. Teach your child to compete only against one person, the previous self. 

Nothing is more satisfying than learning, improving & finally mastering a tough skill.  We are never too young or too old to learn. 


I have myself coded this Glad2teach website by learning the skill from scratch. I used HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Widgets, Bootstrap and lots of passion to build it. You be the judge if this webpage feels distinct in its flow & functionality. Yeah ! I pat my own back :)

Today, Internet is our greatest teacher. There are innumerable great websites and tutorials available to us to learn a new skill. What a time to be alive !

So let us learn another EasyCal technique for pure joie de vivre (read: the joy of being alive)






Is there a change in your thinking ?

You are calculating faster now.

The question is : Faster than what ?

# Your previous self
# Your friends / family / classmates
# Your calculator


People who are even 'human calculators' are not faster than it. May be at par if they are exceptional.

Does calculator take 'any' time at all to calculate moment we hit that 'equal to' button. Isn't the answer displayed instantly ?   

People who claim to be faster than a calculator are merely faster than another human being using that calculator. No matter how agile our fingers are, yet it takes time (& effort) to input number data in a calculator.


This is no magic, rather this is how we all should be able to process numbers upon activating our IPL (image engine).  Mathematics is a language. To become fluent with it we must learn to process it using the same part of our brain that we use to effortlessly process our mother tongue.

We would be covering this in detail in later videos. See my demonstration below.  I chunk them in 2 or more digits at a time, to make them easy to hold and process.







Have you heard of the story of 2 Mathematician friends who were confronted by a wild bear ? 

One of the friends immediately started to run. The other friend shouted that it was impossible to outrun a grizzly@48 km/hr

The friend who had the headstart shouted back "Buddy, I am outrunning you@9 km/hr"

C'est la vie . That is life. 

  
In any Competitive Exam, you are not asked to mentally out-calculate a calculator (Grizly) but your friends (read: the fellow exam takers). Calculators are not allowed en masse.

Even if you marginally improved your mental Math over others, you would survive being eliminated. Even one extra mark would suffice.

I have not set these rules, I am just teaching you to play by them.  In fact, I have always hated such cut-throat competitive exams. In India, they are a norm for every student. That is how they separate wheat from the chaff. A student is required to be better than the best.

Thus parents expect their child to be a class topper all her life and then secure a high rank in these Competitive Exams as well. 

Process of education feels like training for a fierce race to beat others. 



Any skill should be learnt for self-betterment and self-enlightenment. The only person we should be competing against is our previous self. Nothing is more satisfying than learning and mastering a new skill.  

Let us learn another EasyCal technique for pure joie de vivre (read: the joy of being alive)





Dear Visitor,

Many thanks for spending time on my website. I hope you found its content useful.

In the channel above, I have organized the videos into relevant playlists (side scrolling). First select any playlist, then a video in it. 


Note:  There are plenty of videos to be consumed.  Do not overwhelm your mind by learning everything at a go.


Learn at your own pace. One technique at a time. 


There is a Comment Box below. I would be happy to hear from you. Suggestions and feedback (+/-) are always welcome. Spam and abusive comments would get personally deleted by me. 

If you want any specific help then let me know.  I can solve for you an occasional HW question for free :) 

After 15 years of teaching Mathematics, I have become well versed with most school curriculums around the world. I have taught students of all ages to easily learn various topics of Mathematics and get better grades.

I have also coached students to score well in the Standardized Tests and various Competitive Exams.

I have an online classroom (with a built-in whiteboard and voice chat). Leave a message below if you or someone in your family needs a Math tutor. I would email you back.


All the best !

Shahryar Badar Khan
Mathematic Teacher, Director
www.Glad2teach.com