10 Tricks On How To Get Better At Math [ For Students]

Math hacks are the best ways to solve any math problem quickly. These also help the students to get better at math. Most teachers keep looking for tricks on How to get better at math to share the same with their students. Math hacks are proven and effective ways or shortcuts to solve mathematical operations like multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition. In this write-up, you will discover many exciting math hacks you can share with your students. You can also ask them to try these in class while solving a related problem. These math hacks will surely astonish them and make them love math.

10 Tricks On How To Get Better At Math:

For Addition And Subtraction:- 

1. Adding Larger Numbers:

This trick can be applied whenever three-digit numbers are to be added together. Students may have difficulty adding integers with three or more digits, but breaking down the process can make it easier. 

For example, consider two numbers, 298 and 356, to be added. A learner may find adding this very intimidating, but breaking the integers into parts would be helpful for them.

• As per the trick, we must turn the integer into a multiple of 10. 
• Take any one of the two integers, which is easier to convert. Here, 298 is the one. When two are added to 298, it becomes 300. 
• To balance the equation, we must subtract two from the other integer, i.e., 356.
• Putting all this into steps, we get,
  •  298 + 356 =?
  • (298+2) + (356-2) = ?
  • 300 + 354 = ?
  • 654.

As per the trick, we made one integer a multiple of 10 or 100. This way, the equation is broken into parts. We can first add what we feel is easy to make a multiple of 10 or 100 and then move to the easy part. We can see that to add 300 and 354, we just needed to add both the threes of the integers and rest the digits on tens and ones place value remained the same. This is how you can get better at maths using these math tricks.

2. Subtracting From 1000:

Suppose you get a three-digit integer for subtraction from 1000. You can use the given math trick to solve it quickly. 

Consider any number, say, 765, to be subtracted from 1000. In average subtraction, you would use the carry-on method. But since you are learning effective tricks, you should use the following method. 

• Subtract the first two digits of the integer from 9. 

9 – 7 = 2

9 – 6 = 3

• Next, subtract the remaining last digit from 10. 

10 – 5 = 5

• The answer is 235. (By picking the answers to this collection)

The logic behind this is elementary. When you subtract typically, the last digit is subtracted from 10, and as soon as the last 0 of 1000 borrows one from the first digit, all the rest of the digits turn into 9. Thus, the rest of the number is to be subtracted from 9.

The trick applies to all the patterns of 1000, like 100, 10000, 10000, etc.

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For Multiplication and Division

3. Multiplying 5 To Even Numbers:

Whenever any question requires multiplication from 5, this trick quickly calculates the correct answer. The trick involves two primary steps. 

1. Separate the number to be multiplied by five into two halves. If the number is too big, you can divide it by 2. Then, you will only need one-half of the number.

• To check this out, consider an example where 24 is to be multiplied by 5. Now, this is a big one. Moving as per the steps, we must first separate 24 in its half. We will get 12. 
• 5 * 24 = ?
• (24/2) 
• 12

1. The final step is to append a zero on the right side of that number. You will get the answer.

• Now, we need to add 0 to the right of 12. We will get 120. This is how easily you get the correct answer. 
• 5 * 24 =120 is the answer

4. Multiplying 5 To Odd Numbers:

This trick is just an extension of the previous one and involves three significant steps. 

1. Take the odd number to be multiplied by five and minus one from it to make it an even number.

For better understanding, consider this example where 17 is to be multiplied by 5. We will follow the steps one by one. Firstly, we will take 17 and subtract one from it to get 16 which is an even number.

• 17 * 5 = ?
• (17 – 1)
• 16

1. Separate the obtained even number into two halves where you need only one. Now, we have to make half of 16, dividing it by 2 to get 8. 

• (16/2)

1. Add 5 to that number’s right end to get the required solution.

For the final step, we must append a 5 to the right end of 8. We will finally get 85 which is the required answer. 

•  Eight and one five appended
• 85.

Who would say mathematical calculations are complex and cannot be solved without calculators? 

Let us move forward to the following tricks.

5. Multiplying By 9:

For any number to be multiplied by 9, the calculation can become as easy as multiplying it by ten merely by this trick. Three steps are primarily involved in this trick.

1. Round up 9 to make it 10.
2. Multiply the number to be multiplied by nine by 10.

• In this example, 37 is multiplied by 9. Next, multiply 37 by 10 to get 370.
• 37 * 9 =?
• 37 * 10
• 370

1. Subtract the obtained result from the original number to be multiplied by 9.

• Lastly, minus 37 from 370 to 333 is the final answer.
• 370 – 37 
•  333.

There is also an alternate method to multiply according to the number of digits, like two digits with two, three digits with three-digit, and so on.

It involves two steps:

1. Subtract one from the number to be multiplied by a pattern of 9. The result is the first half of the solution.

• If 37 is multiplied by 99, first subtract one from 37 to get 36. Now, 36 is the first two digits of the answer.
• 37 * 99 = ?
• 37 – 1 = 36

1. Subtract the obtained number from the same pattern of 9. The result is the second half of the solution.

• Next, subtract 36 from 99 to get 63, which is the answer’s next and final two digits.
• 99 – 36 = 63
• 3663 is the answer.

6. 10 And 11 Times Trick:

When any two-digit numbers are to be multiplied by 10, the trick is simply adding a zero at the end of that number. But when any number is added to 11, it involves the following steps.

1. Separate the number to be multiplied with a space in between. 

When 34 is multiplied by 11, first, create a space between 3 and 4. 34 * 11 =?

• 3_4 

Here 3 and 4 are the first and last digits of the final answer.

1. Fill the space by adding those two numbers to obtain the final answer.

• 3 (3+4) 4

1. Next, add 3 and 4 to obtain seven and place them in the middle of both numbers. The final answer is 374.

If the sum of the numbers is again a two-digit number and requires carrying, then it is done as regular addition. For example, if 88 is to be multiplied by 11, as done above, both the 8s will be separated with a space and added together to obtain 16, making six the middle number and adding 1 to the first 8—making 968 the final answer.

88 * 11 = ?

8_8

8 (8+8) 8

968. 

7. Division Tricks:

When division questions are provided in the examination, and the student cannot divide it fully, they may think they have miscalculated it. Here are some tricks to quickly check if the number is adequately divisible by a certain number or not:

• From 2 if it has 0,2,4,6,8 in the end.
• From 5 if it ends with 0 or 5, which depicts its multiples.
• From 10, if the number ends with 0.
• From 8 when either the last three digits are 0s or they are divisible entirely by 8.
• From 3, if the summation of all the digits of the number is divisible by three properly.
• From 6, when a digit is an even number, the summation of the digits of the number is divisible properly by 3.
• From 9, if the summation of all the digits of the number is divisible by 9 properly.
• From 4, if the number is even, a multiple of 2 ends with 0s.

8. Percentage:

Finding percentages can be a difficult task not only for a middle school child but also for higher school children if a correct trick is not known. Cross multiplication is one method that requires higher intellectual skills, which could be hard to implement every time. Following is a more straightforward trick to make calculations of percentages easier and faster. 

According to the trick, you must multiply the percentage amount by the number whose Percentage is to be calculated. And finally, a decimal has to be added before the left of two digits.

For example, 54% of 76 will need a multiplication of 54 and 76 to obtain 4104, and finally, a decimal has to be added before 0 to get 41.04. It is the final and actual answer. 

9. Squaring A Two-Digit Number Which Ends With 5:

Squaring numbers that end with 0 requires the addition of 0s which is the easiest squaring way. However, for getting squares of 5, a two-step trick is required.

1. Take the first digit of the number and multiply it by the next higher integer. The result is the first part of the answer.
2. Append 25 at the end of the result in the upper step to get the final answer. 

For example, if the square of 45 is required, multiply 4 by 5 to get 20. Next, add 25 at the end of 20 to get 2025 as the final answer. 

10. Tough Multiplication:

If two large numbers require multiplication and it takes more than the needed time for the child to solve the problem, follow this trick. The prime step to move forward with this trick is to check that at least any of the two numbers is even. If this condition is satisfied, this trick will quickly solve the problem. There are three steps in this technique.

1. Divide the even number by 2 to get its half.
2. Double the other number by multiplying it by 2.
3. Multiply the result of both the above steps to get the final answer.

For example, if 20 and 13 are to be multiplied, divide 22 by 2 to get 10. Next, multiply 13 by 2 to get 26. Finally, multiply 26 and 10 to get 260, the final answer.

Also read: 11 Useful Math Teacher Resources For Classroom

Takeaway

Using these math hacks, your students can quickly solve the most complicated calculations, increasing their mental power and helping them tackle different questions without fear. You can also share these tricks in a fun worksheet named – “How to get better at math” and include some problems where these tricks can be used.