Mathemagic --Mind Power and self-improvement

Sudha asked me, "There are hundreds of self-employment projects. Which one shall I choose?" I told her, "In Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks the cat, ‘Which way I ought to walk from here?’ The cat asks, ‘Where do you want to go?’ Alice replies, ‘I don’t care where.’ The cat says, ‘Then it does not matter which way you walk.’ That’s my reply to your question. Unless you know what your goal is and what your skills are, you can start any business. Your success will be decided by your luck." Sudha is a mother of two young children. She is in her mid-thirties. Ten years ago she was a practising lawyer in a metro high court. After her marriage, she gave up her profession.

After a few minutes of silence, Sudha said, "I tried to understand my skills, attitudes and aspiration. But I did not succeed. The more I think the more I become confused. I want to make some money and use it for the education of my children." I said, "You can develop systems that will accelerate the learning process of children." Sudha asked me, "How will it help me make money?" I replied, "When you develop a system for your children, you will try your best to make it as perfect as possible. That system can be taught to others for fees and you can make money."

"It sounds great. I want to teach mathematics, English, Science, Hindi, French and Computer to my children." Sudha said in an excited voice. "If you take up just one subject and spend all your energy and resources on it, you will definitely come up with something marketable," I told her. "Okay, I will take up mathematics," Sudha said.

"Students use computers and calculators so much that their ability to do mental mathematics is diminishing. Parents happily pay in thousands to institutions that teach mathematics systematically using unconventional methods such as abacus. Can you help children learn mathematics easily and quickly? If you do that you will make money," I said. "Can you give me an example?" Sudha asked me.

I will give you a few examples. You can make a kid an expert in 9 times-table in less than a minute by making him use his fingers. Though it is several hundreds years old, not many people are aware of such systems. Hold your hands in front of you with your fingers spread out. For 9X2 bend your second finger down. For 9X3, it would be the third finger and so on. For 9X2: You have 1 finger before the bent finger and 8 after the bent finger. Thus the answer must be 18. This technique works for the 9 times tables up to 10," I said to Sudha. She tried the method and exclaimed, "Wonderful! Please tell me more!"

"Most of us know how to know the number of days in any month by using our fists. You must collect all these easy to do methods and create a system professionally. But, they are physical methods. There are many mental methods that are more powerful than physical methods. You can teach times tables, multiplication, division, trigonometry and what-not using mental images, colors, stories and creativity. Numbers are abstract. You can remember them easily if you make them memorable. For example, two rhymes with shoe, three with tree, four with door and eight with kite. If you want your kid to remember that 4x8=32, tell him this funny story and ask him to visualize it: You make a kite out of a door and fly it. Because there is no door, a tree comes in and steals your shoes. Kite will remind door. Door will remind tree. Tree will remind shoe. If you see this silly mental picture and review it a few times, you will never forget it. It takes several minutes to describe it. But it takes only a fraction of a second for our mind to create a mental picture and retain it forever." I explained.

"I’m sure these systems will be useful to all kids." Sudha said. "I will give you another example. Six rhymes with stick and one goes with pen. To remember 3x6=18, use this story: You beat a tree with sticks because the tree poked a pen into your kite and tore it. When you tell this story to your kid, you teach him 3x6 and also 6x3. One story teaches two tables. There are several such methods. Create a system for mental mathematics using them and you will make money," I told her.

After a week, I received an email from Sudha. ‘Last week I discussed your mental mathematics idea with a rich friend. She was so impressed by the idea that she had offered a proposal to form a partnership firm. I immediately accepted it. I will do the work. She will take care of administration and money. We plan to launch our coaching centre in a few months from now. I will be paid Rs.7000 a month and 50% share in net profit. Thank you.’