The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics

The below review goes for any edition of the book; be it paperback, hardback, new, old, in any language whatsoever. I, however, first studied the books' danish paperback edition, published 1950'ish :: Starting out; you really only need to know how to count one-tru-eleven. The book sets out by presenting to you an entirely new way to 'think' multiplication: You'll learn to 'read' each individual cipher - stop memorizing of multiplication tables - . Completely mastered in about one lazy afternoon. Soon, you will be reading and handling numbers as well as ciphers in much the same way you now read books. It's such a joy - both rewarding and addictive - ; provided only your undivided attention and wholeheartedly commitment ! Your memory will work and expand quickly; you'll find yourself dividing, multiplying and adding just for the fun of it - without any support of tools like pen & paper etc., even for billions*billions or division into like a zillion decimals ! In about one month I worked through this book cover-to-cover, read every single page of every chapter, did every single exercise over. *** This SYSTEM is guaranteed to WORK - anyone can learn it *** Even for someone who is not intimidated by numbers: this is the only book, you'll ever need to become the wizard of every-day-basic maths. Do not for any reason skip any chapter or pages or the entire philosophy WILL elude you ! With pen [indeed: PEN] and paper work your way attentively and meticously through every single exercise - especially the obvious ones ! PLEASE; Stay patient with each of the examples and repeat them over until you're completely mastering its unique technique. About half-way through this book you'll probably find calculators much too slow AND in-accurate [too few digits displayed]; You'll always vision the complete solution in your head long before you've finished punching the calculator's keypad. The division chapters seemed the most difficult ones to me [two entirely independent and very different systems]. One is fool-proof, one is tounge-in-cheek.; you'll need to work through both of them. The latter division system is by far the most difficult part of the entire book - PLEASE brace yourself to put the extra effort into mastering it - and then SELL your CALCULATORs ! Your conception and memory skills as well as self-confidence will be instantly and permanently boosted. Excellent self-study guide for children, too ! It's indeed the very best self-study basic-maths teacher for anyone who shyes away from basic accounting - or just wants a-trick-or-two to improve their calculating-speed.

What a great system to work out arithmetic problems. I have introduced the first concept of multiplication by 11 to a 1st and 3rd grader. They were so proud of themselves working out a 6 digit number by 11. Me, I was introduced to the simple 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication system a long time ago. I didn’t know it was based off the Trachtenberg system. I always wondered how to do the same principle with 2x3 or 3x3 digits. Now I know, and a whole lot more. VERY well explained with step by step instructions. Nothing is missing here on making this clear to a new learner. Highly recommended.

If you are found of mental calculation and can focus while counting, you will find the Trachtenberg method very interesting. To succeed in using it efficiently and to benefit from the "speed" of execution, one needs a great amount of practice. This book is written in simple language (nothing technical or proper to mathematicians, except for the last chapter consacred to the demonstrations of the method for curious ones who want to know why it ridiculously works well), in order to make anyone able to understand it.

I get bored with doing math. This has nothing to do with an inability to do math and more to do with the fact that a lot of the work required to do it is tedious. Because of that fact, I've been looking for a easy and fast mental math system to take out the menial work out of doing basic math. Amazingly, I managed to find a system that fit those requirements: The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics. First off, let me state that all the 5 star positive reviews are justified. This is, in fact, an amazing mental math system that goes a few steps beyond what's necessary for a mental math book. If it had merely given you a quick way to do addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, and square roots, it would have been a good book, if somewhat indistinguishable from all the other mental math books. There are two things that set it apart from other systems: 1. It gives you a way to check your answer that's quick and works for all operations 2. It's a complete system, not just a set of tricks, thus it anchors it self in your brain. However, while I do like this book, I have to give a caveat that forces me to knock this book down from five to four stars. For whatever reason, my version of this book as published by Ishi Press International and fulfilled by Amazon, appears to not have subtraction part of the Trachtenberg method. Perhaps the original version did have it, but it was mistakenly left out of the Ishi Press version. This is a shame, as the cover explicitly said it did have subtraction in the book, and everything else in the book is really good and well worth your money. I would still recommend buying the book, even if the version you get doesn't have subtraction portion. P.S: If you do know where to find a copy that has the subtraction, leave the information in the comments below.

I actually had a copy of this book when I was a child, and took great pleasure in learning some of the tips'n'tricks. I was so pleased to purchase this other copy in order to allow my son the same opportunity now. I guess the enjoyment you get out of it would greatly depend on how much you enjoy math games. If you don't, I sure wouldn't buy this! lol But it is very, very instructive and a great purchase for the middle school, high school, or college student. Certainly even math-oriented adults would enjoy learning tricks to make math easier. To me, a good part of the positive in it is just getting kids to *think* about how numbers go together, and how to manipulate them. If you make math fun and interesting, it can only be a plus for their overall education! :)

This amazing book arrived today. I had the 1960 Edition, and was amazed at the techniques to bring large numbers to conclusion. Prof. Trachhtenberg endured pure hell and still he brought out a manner of math that the world surely needed. My copy arrived in excellent condition, sealed in wrap to keep the cover and pages from being damaged, or worse - water! Thank you having this book -Amazon is the first place I look for almost everything. I highly recommend this book - I am giving it to my college bound grandson........and I know he will enjoy every page!

This book is a real collectible and has interesting story in the beginning about the authors life could be a movie some day the book I had when I was a kid was loaned to my teacher and never returned 😡

My book was in excellent shape!

i recommend this book to anyone of any age or ability who has a child that struggles with normal arithmetic or maths. written by a Jewish mathematics teacher while incarcerated in a concentration camp, to stop him going mad in this hell he set about designing a new method easier method of mental arithmetic. in the fifties/early sixties i spent many a playtime hours writing out the times tables on the back of then called school 'black boards' with chalk. only to see my painful efforts publicly derided and then wiped away by the teacher with distain. no way could i get it to 'click', 6x and upwards i'd multiply 2 x 6 by adding 6+6 on my fingers, 3 x 6 add another 6 and so on. i had to learn to write fast or get more detention for being 'rude' of all things, become natural for me to kick back and hard. today i'd be diagnosed with having some form of 'numeric dyslexia', bathed in mumbled analytic rubbish and likely be stuffed full with behaviour correction tablets, but back then i was simply marked down as thick and 'must try harder'. when i got to do science, the same teacher took maths, i was a baffling enigma to him because i was bottom in maths and constantly top in science - according to him that did not fit, he at least realised i was not thick, but canned me for being lazy in his maths classes - not really an improvement you might say? crazy thing is i knew the formula's and how to use them. i breezed algebra crushing those who were thought good at maths. later days helps me make a real number mashers of a spreadsheet, i simply can't do the actual standard arithmetic accurately in the way i was 'taught'. i first read part of this book while at work, a colleague working as a 'temp' showed it to me, the results in me were near instant. he left and we lost touch but i'd looked for that book for many years. once understood with a bit of practice the method is based on simple addition, so it is very simple to remember, you will shock people with your new found speed and accuracy.

Bought for my granddaughter

Interesting read

This is one of my favourite books ever. This is at least my third purchase of this book. My first purchase was when I was in high school, long before the internet was a gleam in the cloud's eye. I have been using their 9's method for checking computations since I was a teenager in my father's business…long before any calculators were available to the public. Yeah, I am old.

Eckenrechnen war früher ein beliebter Zeitvertreib in den Schulen. Hätte ich die Trachtenberg Mthode dort schon gekannt, hätte ich wohl nie verloren. Rechnen einfach, logisch und verdammt schnell. Alle Rechenschrtte sind logisch erklärt; gleichzeitig werden lerntipps gegeben. Eine tolle Ergänzung für JEDEN, der besser/schneller RECHNEN möchte.