Looking for 50+ easy and painless brain exercises that
will teach you and help you master the secrets
of mental maths or mental arithmetic?

 

What This WebSite Is About

In very simple terms, this website is about developing and maintaining an active mind.

This will be achieved by doing specially designed and selected brain exercises.

In other words, you will be able to develop and maintain an active mind by giving your mind a regular mental workout!

And don't worry, the exercises are easy to do!

In fact, they are so simple that you will wonder whether they are too simple.

And, by doing some of our brain exercises, you will learn the secrets of mental arithmetic. You will discover the quick way to the following mental maths tricks:

• to add and subtract numbers,
• to multiply and divide a number by 5,
• to multiply a number by 11,
• and lots and lots more...

Why Did I Put Together This Web Site?

The reason I put together this website is very simple. I recently entered the 50+-year-old bracket and have noticed that my mind is not as sharp as it used to be.

While this is normal, a friend who recently turned 40 has noticed the same thing (and he has a better mind than mine!), I decided to put together a number of brain exercises to keep my mind alert, sharp and active.

The areas of concern for me were:

• memory: I wanted to improve my ability to remember new things and to do it quickly,
• observation: I wanted to improve my powers of observation. I noticed that I got into the habit of looking but not seeing,
• stimulation: I wanted to expose my mind to new, fun and interesting things (articles, sayings, how-to videos, news items not found in newspapers, photos of places I have never seen, and so on . . . ). This would give me new things to think about and it would keep my mind active by maintaining (and developing) new interests,
• information manipulation: I wanted my mind to do more than just the usual things I do every day. For example, as a High School teacher, I learnt how to write 'upside down and back to front' in order to help students with their Maths exercises. While it is not a skill I use now, the point is that the mind is capable of doing much more than what we do with it every day. I wanted to explore that by getting my mind to do 'unusual' things,
• using mental pictures: research has found that the mind thinks in pictures and that it works best when we deal with pictures. I wanted to be able to develop my imagination to the extent that I would be able to 'see' things in pictures,
• listen better: I wanted to be able to listen and not just hear. Somehow, over the years, I took the easy road of hearing and not listening,
• engage my mind: I wanted my mind to become more engaged when reading, seeing, listening, . . . Believe it or not, I found that my mind had become passive when engaged in my daily activities. I wanted it to become actively involved once again . . . just as it did when I was younger,
• peripheral vision: I wanted to improve my peripheral vision. I found that as I got older, I developed what is called 'tunnel vision'. In other words, I would only see what I was looking at and not seeing much else from the corner of my eye (which is called peripheral vision).

Cant Do Mental Maths or Mental Arithmetic?

I have also known for some time that I struggle to do mental maths or mental arithmetic. So, I did some thinking and reading and put together a number of mental arithmetic exercises together with the secrets of how to do certain mental calculations.

Also, I have written an excellent article which you simply must read! And while you are there, could you please vote for my article where it says 'Current Rating' near the bottom of the page? Thank You.

1. Can't Do Mental Arithmetic? Discover the 1 Secret
2. That is the Absolute Key to Mastering Mental Maths

In the members' area, I will share with you the tricks and secrets I have discovered, so you too will be able to master any of the following arithmetic operations in your head:

mentally add 2 numbers together,

mentally subtract 2 numbers,

mentally multiply a number by a 1-digit number (including decimals),

mentally multiply a number by a 2-digit number (including decimals),

mentally deal with the special case of dividing a number by 5 (including decimals),

mentally deal with the special case of multiplying a number by 5 (including decimals),

mentally deal with the special case of dividing a number by 2 (including decimals),

mentally multiply a number by 11 (including decimals),

mentally square any 2-digit number that ends in a 5 (including decimals),

know if a number is divisible by 2, by 3, by 4, by 5, by 6, by 7, by 8, by 9, by 10, by 11 or by 12,

mentally work out the approximate square root of a number

and lots more . . . all without pen and paper.

In case you are wondering, I have put together some short videos on mental arithmetic. These videos will show you a couple of mental math tricks you will learn inside the members' area. You can view those videos on YouTube or on Yahoo Videos (the videos at both sites are exactly the same).

Articles

Another great way to exercise your mind is by reading articles. The articles will not only expand your current knowledge but will also make you think about things as you come across new information.

To that end, we have put together a sister site where you can read articles online. We have some 100,000 articles that we would like to add over time (organised in a wide variety of categories) as these things take time!

The articles are generally small and packed with valuable information. So reading just one article will not take long. And in one seating, you will be able to easily read 5-10 articles to expand your knowledge and give you new information to think about. For example, do you know what "the akashic records" are? Very interesting concept!

PS. Our Free online article directory can be viewed on a smartphone, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad and so on... Check it out!

Brain Exercises

I am in the process of adding mentally engaging brain exercises to the members' area. These brain exercises have been specifically selected to help with concentration, information processing, memory, . . .

While it is true that you can find these brain exercises at other websites on the Internet, I have put them all together in one convenient location.

If You Too Are Concerned...

Now that you know what this website is about and why I have put it together, if you find that you too are concerned about your mental alertness, then I extend to you an invitation to do the same brain exercises as I do by joining my membership site.

Don't think that these exercises are only of value to older folks such as myself. The reality is that we all have a brain that is not used to its full potential. My brain exercises will help you develop and maintain new mental skills such as mental math (if you are currently not good at it).

I Make No Promises, But...

I am sure that you will understand that I cannot make any promises about how well my brain exercises will work for you as there are things I cannot control (how often you do them, whether you engage your mind 100% when you do them, . . . ) but I can say that, my mind is no different to yours and if these exercises help me, then they will help you too - provided you do them regularly and that you engage your mind 100% when you do them.

Let me share with you 2 successful examples:

1. having worked out how to do certain mental arithmetic calculations, I now have a lot of fun at traffic lights multiplying the 3-digit numbers of our number plates by 5, dividing them by 5, multiplying the first 2 digits by the 3rd one, multiplying the last 2 digits by the first one. These are mental exercises I was not able to do prior to my putting together this website,
2. in my daily newspaper, there is a brain exercise that I have 'forced' myself to do. It lists 4 words that have had their letters mixed up. The trick is to rearrange the letters to make up the word. Having 'forced' myself to do these exercises over a few weeks, I find that now there are some words I can the answers to in the blink of an eye (while there are still some words I can't workout). But for me, the fact that I can get the answers for some of them quickly is a huge improvement. I also found that with a bit of concentration, I could mentally move the letters around to try new letter combinations as I searched for the answer. As a result of this simple exercise (which I have reproduced in my members' area), I find that my memory and powers of observation have improved.

The Basic Principle for an Active / Alert Mind

As I mentioned above, I cannot make any promises for you about my brain exercises but I will tell you that I strongly believe in the following principle:

The best way to develop and maintain an active or alert mind is to:

• keep using it in as many ways as possible, and
• expose it to as many different things as possible.

And if it is fun, then it is that much more effective.

Do You Have Any Queries or Concerns?

If you have any queries or concerns, please feel free to get in touch with me using the Contact Us form.

Wishing you a healthy and active mind,

Serge M Botans
B.Sc. (Honours), M.Sc., Dip. Ed.