Birthday Math Trick

Are you ready to spice up math class with this pretty cool birthday math trick! Kids don't want the same ol' boring math routine....They want a spark so check this one out and then browse around the site for lots more engaging math stuff. This little math trick should make you seem like a sort of math genius. Have fun with it. It will involve some math calculations so be sure the person does the math correctly. Note: Make sure you try this trick out for yourself first, using your own birthdate. There is an example that follow the steps.

Add 18 to the month they were born Multiply by 25 Subtract 333 Multiply by 8 Subtract 554 Divide by 2 Add their birth date Multiply by 5

Add 692 Multiply by 20 Add only the last two digits of their birth year Subtract 32940 to get their birthday!

Pretty Cool! You can check out the example below if you have any questions. Example: Let's suppose someone has a birthdate of August 22, 1964. So we want to use the format of month/day/year so this birthdate would be 08/22/64. Notice we only used two digits for the year. Step 1: 18 + 8 = 26 Step 2: 26 x 25 = 650 Step 3: 650 - 333 = 317 Step 4: 317 x 8 = 2536 Step 5: 2536 - 554 = 1982 Step 6: 1982 / 2 = 991 Step 7: 991 + 22 = 1013 Step 8: 1013 x 5 = 5065 Step 9: 5065 + 692 = 5757 Step 10: 5757 x 20 = 115140 Step 11: 115140 + 64 = 115204 Step 12: 1295204 - 32940 = 82264 And there you have it....8 22 64 which is the same as August 22nd, 1964!

Pick Pocket Math Number Trick

This Pick Pocket Math Number Trick helps kids get practice with addition, subtraction, and multiplication all in one shot! Really impress friends and family by correctly guessing the amount of change they have in their pockets! The math behind the trick works every time so you will guess right all the time. Ready! Let's go! What You Need: Find a volunteer to work your math magic on. Make sure your volunteer has some change in their pocket. But they do not reveal it to you.. Paper Pencil

What To Do: Have your volunteer multiply their age by two. Then they will add five. Now multiply the previous sum by fifty. Subtract 365. Add the amount of pocket change, but do NOT count any change that is over $1. Add 115.

Notice that the first two digits will be the person's age,and the last two digits are the amount of the person's pocket change.

Cell Phone Math Number Trick

Do you know someone who has a cell phone?duh! yeah! Well here's a cool cell phone math number trick!

Grab a calculator (you wont be able to do this one in your head) Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code) Multiply by 80 Add 1 Multiply by 250 Add the last 4 digits of your phone number Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again Subtract 250 Divide by 2

Recognize the number you end up with? It should be the phone number with all the digits.

Math Behind the Trick

Okay, let's see why this trick works. We will introduce some simplealgebra to show how it works. In Step 1, the first three digits of the phone number are multiplied by 80. So if we let x equal the first three digits, it can be written as: 80x. In Step 2, 1 is added to the result from the previous step. So let's write the algebraic expression for that: 80x + 1 Step 3 tells us to multiply the previous rest by 250. This will look like this: 250(80x + 1) Step 4 tells us to add the last four digits of the phone number. So we will let y equal the last four digits. 250(80x + 1) + y The next Step tells us to Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again. So how do you think this should look? That will look like this: 250(80x + 1) + y + y.....since we can add the like terms together, this simplifies to: 250(80x + 1) + 2y In the next Step we are supposed to Subtract 250.

So this will give us: 250(80x + 1) + 2y - 250 The last Step tells us to Divide by 2. So, that will be: [250(80x + 1) + 2y - 250] / 2 Now we will do a little more algebra here and factor a 2 out of the numerator. 2[125(80x + 1) + y - 125]/2 Now, the 2's in the numerator and denominator cancel out to give: 125(80x + 1) + y - 125 Now we can distribute the 125 across the parentheses to get: 10000x + 125 + y - 125 Since 125 - 125 = 0 we will have: 10000x + y So When you multiply the first 3 digits by 10000 you will have xxx0000 and then you add the last four digits to end up with xxxyyyy, your telephone number! Therefore it should work no matter what the phone number. Math number tricks are good for practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students have fun doing the math number tricks, but at the same time they are getting better at doing the math. Make sure they don't use a calculator...sort of defeats the purpose.

1. The 11 Times Trick

We all know the trick when multiplying by ten add 0 to the end of the number, but did you know there is an equally easy trick for multiplying a two digit number by 11? This is it: Take the original number and imagine a space between the two digits (in this example we will use 52: 5_2 Now add the two numbers together and put them in the middle: 5_(5+2)_2 That is it you have the answer: 572. If the numbers in the middle add up to a 2 digit number, just insert the second number and add 1 to the first: 9_(9+9)_9 (9+1)_8_9 10_8_9 1089 It works every time.

2. Quick Square
If you need to square a 2 digit number ending in 5, you can do so very easily with this trick. Mulitply the first digit by itself + 1, and put 25 on the end. That is all! 252 = (2x(2+1)) & 25 2x3=6 625

3. Multiply by 5
Most people memorize the 5 times tables very easily, but when you get in to larger numbers it gets more complex or does it? This trick is super easy.

Take any number, then divide it by 2 (in other words, halve the number). If the result is whole, add a 0 at the end. If it is not, ignore the remainder and add a 5 at the end. It works everytime: 2682 x 5 = (2682 / 2) & 5 or 0 2682 / 2 = 1341 (whole number so add 0) 13410 Lets try another: 5887 x 5 2943.5 (fractional number (ignore remainder, add 5) 29435

4. Multiply by 9
This one is simple to multiple any number between 1 and 9 by 9 hold both hands in front of your face drop the finger that corresponds to the number you are multiplying (for example 93 drop your third finger) count the fingers before the dropped finger (in the case of 93 it is 2) then count the numbers after (in this case 7) the answer is 27.

5. Multiply by 4
This is a very simple trick which may appear obvious to some, but to others it is not. The trick is to simply multiply by two, then multiply by two again:

58 x 4 = (58 x 2) + (58 x 2) = (116) + (116) = 232

6. Calculate a Tip
If you need to leave a 15% tip, here is the easy way to do it. Work out 10% (divide the number by 10) then add that number to half its value and you have your answer: 15% of $25 = (10% of 25) + ((10% of 25) / 2) $2.50 + $1.25 = $3.75

7. Tough Multiplication
If you have a large number to multiply and one of the numbers is even, you can easily subdivide to get to the answer: 32 x 125, is the same as: 16 x 250 is the same as: 8 x 500 is the same as: 4 x 1000 = 4,000

8. Dividing by 5
Dividing a large number by five is actually very simple. All you do is multiply by 2 and move the decimal point: 195 / 5

Step1: 195 * 2 = 390 Step2: Move the decimal: 39.0 or just 39 2978 / 5 step 1: 2978 * 2 = 5956 Step2: 595.6

9. Subtracting from 1,000

To subtract a large number from 1,000 you can use this basic rule: subtract all but the last number from 9, then subtract the last number from 10: 1000 -648 step1: subtract 6 from 9 = 3 step2: subtract 4 from 9 = 5 step3: subtract 8 from 10 = 2 answer: 352

10. Assorted Multiplication Rules

Multiply by 5: Multiply by 10 and divide by 2. Multiply by 6: Sometimes multiplying by 3 and then 2 is easy. Multiply by 9: Multiply by 10 and subtract the original number. Multiply by 12: Multiply by 10 and add twice the original number. Multiply by 13: Multiply by 3 and add 10 times original number. Multiply by 14: Multiply by 7 and then multiply by 2 Multiply by 15: Multiply by 10 and add 5 times the original number, as above. Multiply by 16: You can double four times, if you want to. Or you can multiply by 8 and then by 2. Multiply by 17: Multiply by 7 and add 10 times original number. Multiply by 18: Multiply by 20 and subtract twice the original number (which is obvious from the first step). Multiply by 19: Multiply by 20 and subtract the original number. Multiply by 24: Multiply by 8 and then multiply by 3. Multiply by 27: Multiply by 30 and subtract 3 times the original number (which is obvious from the first step). Multiply by 45: Multiply by 50 and subtract 5 times the original number (which is obvious from the first step). Multiply by 90: Multiply by 9 (as above) and put a zero on the right.

Multiply by 98: Multiply by 100 and subtract twice the original number. Multiply by 99: Multiply by 100 and subtract the original number.

Bonus: Percentages
Yanni in comment 23 gave an excellent tip for working out percentages, so I have taken the liberty of duplicating it here: Find 7 % of 300. Sound Difficult? Percents: First of all you need to understand the word Percent. The first part is PER , as in 10 tricks per listverse page. PER = FOR EACH. The second part of the word is CENT, as in 100. Like Century = 100 years. 100 CENTS in 1 dollar etc. Ok so PERCENT = For Each 100. So, it follows that 7 PERCENT of 100, is 7. (7 for each hundred, of only 1 hundred). 8 % of 100 = 8. 35.73% of 100 = 35.73 But how is that useful?? Back to the 7% of 300 question. 7% of the first hundred is 7. 7% of 2nd hundred is also 7, and yep, 7% of the 3rd hundred is also 7. So 7+7+7 = 21. If 8 % of 100 is 8, it follows that 8% of 50 is half of 8 , or 4. Break down every number thats asked into questions of 100, if the number is less then 100, then move the decimal point accordingly. EXAMPLES: 8%200 = ? 8 + 8 = 16. 8%250 = ? 8 + 8 + 4 = 20. 8%25 = 2.0 (Moving the decimal back). 15%300 = 15+15+15 =45. 15%350 = 15+15+15+7.5 = 52.5 Also its usefull to know that you can always flip percents, like 3% of 100 is the same as 100% of 3. 35% of 8 is the same as 8% of 35.