If your Palo Alto child’s multiplication is strong, you can start teaching them these math tricks.
Trick #1: Squaring a 2 Digit Number Ending in 5
- Multiply the 1st digit by itself plus 1
- Put 25 at the end
Ex: 35^2
Step 1: 3 * (3 + 1) = 3 * 4= 12
Step 2: 1225
Answer: 1225
Trick #2: Multiplying by 5
- Divide the number by 2
- If the result is a whole number, add a zero to the end, otherwise, ignore the remainder and add a 5 to the end
Ex: 382 * 5
Step 1: 382 / 2 = 191
Step 2: 1910
Answer: 1910
Trick #3: Subtracting from 1000
- Subtract all but the last number from 9
- Subtract the last number from 10
Ex: 1000 – 423
Step 1: 9 – 4 = 5
Step 2: 9 – 2= 7
Step 3: 10 – 3 = 7
Answer: 577
These 3 tricks will be very useful for you Palo Alto child to use. Check out some more math tricks from this website!
Here are some practice problems you can do using these tricks
- 55^2
- 876 * 5
- 1000 – 824
Don’t peak! Here are the answers:
- 3025
- 4380
- 176
For more information about Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park and other unique word problems, visit our website at http://www.mathnasium.com/paloalto-menlopark