Mental Math

Brainpower Newsletter

We have a bit on mental math shortcuts, and some good news on vitamin B12 this week.

When I was a child I had my own mental math shortcuts. Using them meant that I didn't "show my work" in math class, which annoyed many of the teachers, and lowered my grades. I had the correct solutions to my math problems, but I was simply using different algorithms, ones which I had a hard time expressing on paper.

In my mind, for example, 97 x 16 became 100 x 16 (1600) minus 3 x 16 (48). This was easier, and thinking this way became almost automatic, so I might just write down 1552 even though I couldn't explain very well how I arrived at the answer. Teachers called that a problem, but I have noticed that many years later such math shortcuts are being sold in seminars and books.

Creating Your Own Math Shortcuts

You can create your own math shortcuts, and the following may give you some ideas on how to do that. Otherwise, you can...

Continued here:
http://www.increasebrainpower.com/math-shortcuts.html

- Despite the common belief, elephants are not afraid of mice. In zoos, mice are often living around the elephants.

- In the 19th century, the most common invention was the washing machine. Almost 2000 patents were issued by the U.S. Patent Office for various types of washing machines

- The Arctic Ocean is the world's smallest ocean, with an area of about 5,000,000 square miles.

Do you find mass-produced subliminal CDs effective? Do you even trust the subliminal tapes you buy at local New Age stores? Do you sometimes want subliminal recordings for topics most CDs just don't cover?

There's a simple solution: DO-IT-YOURSELF! Create your own subliminal CDs, with this PC studio package. Powerful subliminal message software. Use this link for more information:

Last week's riddle was, "What is the longest word you can find with "uo" in it?" The longest I had was "Fluoridation", with 12 letters (and some dictionaries carry "fluoridization," with 14 letters).

One subscriber found "duotrigintillion" in an English dictionary. I looked it up. It is the name for a very large number (10 to the 99th power), and it has 16 letters. Thanks Autumn.

You may remember that last week I reported on the latest about vitamin B12 and memory. Well, There is more good news to report this week.

Finnish researchers found that normal (or high) levels of B12 in the system increased the effectiveness of both drugs or therapy for depressed people. The nervous system needs B12 is necessary for the nervous system to synthesize serotonin. This is the same chemical that antidepressants boost in order to treat depression.

Other studies show that having enough B12 in the first place may prevent depression. What is enough? 6 micrograms is the recommended amount for an adult (this would show as 100% of the daily value on a multi-vitamin label).

Arguments are rarely "won." The last time you won an argument, what did you win? If someone really lost, he at least learned something, right? What did you get from it? Some ego satisfaction, debating practice, and reduced mind power.

Arguing Reduces Mind Power?

There are times when things need to be argued, but most of the time it isn't productive. You don't want to argue the point, do you? What do you win in a useless debate, and more importantly, what do you lose?

A person listening to arguments gets to learn something from both sides, but what about the participants themselves? When your opponent makes a good point, do you say, "Hey, you're right!" or do you more often just look for a better argument?

Too much arguing develops the habit of

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http://www.increasebrainpower.com/a-arguments.html

Until next time,

Riddle solution: Most people read "The cow ate the grass" when they first try this. However, "the" actually appears twice in the sentence, which is easily missed due to the way our brains look for and find familiar patterns - even when they are not there.

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