The Curious Hats of Magical Maths, Book 1: Vedic Mathematics for Schools

The Curious Hats of Magical Maths is an introductory workbook on Vedic Mathematics. It leads you into unique, enjoyable and very quick methods of working with numbers. There are full descriptions of these methods together with worked examples for you to follow and plenty of practice exercises. This is a workbook and you can write your answers into the spaces provided. You will find the answers at the back of the book to check your work. The problems and methods are

suitable for any age but probably most apt. The aim is to introduce some of the Vedic mathematical techniques and not to cover the whole of the mathematics syllabus for 11-13 yearolds.

So the book can be used for support material, extension material or simply by those wishing to find fast techniques for solving problems.

This book is designed for young and old who might enjoy learning and practising the Vedic methods of Mathematics. Vedic mathematics is unconventional and not very well known and so readers are invited to be open-minded in their approach. The system uses the nature of number and natural mental processes to provide quick and easy methods for all sorts of calculations. Many difficultlooking problems can be solved at lightning speed with the answer coming digit-by-digit and without stress or anxiety. When practised the methods give great delight and a sense of the

magical quality of numbers. The amazing simplicity and wonderment of obtaining the answers so easily has led some to ask, is this maths or magic? The answer is that it is magic until you have understood how it works and thereafter it is both maths and magic.

This system of Vedic Mathematics was constructed from ancient Vedic sources by Bharati Krsna Tirthaji about a hundred years ago. It is based on sixteen simple rules called sutras, each of which is represented by a “Curious Hat”. The sutras breifly encapsulate rules of mental working, principles or guiding maxims. Through simple practice you can enjoy mathematics, become adept and quick at mental written calculations, losing any fear of numbers along the way.

This book is a revised, enlarged and illustrated edition of Vedic Mathematics for Schools Book 1.

The author’s understanding of Vedic Mathematics and his qualities as a teacher shine out in these excellent volumes. The simplicity and efficiency of the Vedic system are brought out through the clearly explained examples and there are many exercises and puzzles to stretch the young mind. Easy proofs of all the techniques are given, the topics are well structured and the text is very readable. I must thoroughly recommend these books to students and teachers.

Review(s)

J.T. Glover…shows clearly that when the formulas are understood, particularly in relation to one another, Vedic mathematics presents unified mathematics. – Journal of Oriental Research, Chennai, Vol.71-73, 2000-2003

This book has been neatly printed and moderately priced. For its immense intellectual worth, it is highly recommended to the seekers of knowledge of mathematics. – Vedic Astrology, Vol.6, No.4, July – August, 2002

It is totally different from the usual textbooks we see at the school level Written in simple English, such a book should find a place in every school library. – The Vedanta Kesari, September, 2004

Vedic Mathematics throws open a welcome opportunity for mathelets or whizkids to hone their skills and win laurels through display of mental feat in giving one-line quick responses to mathematical calculations and manipulations. – the Hindu, September 5, 2000

The examples and exercises have been arranged with care and the grading of the letter shows every evidence of the same pedagogic thoroughness. …For this reason, if no other, the book deserves to serve as a model for text books at this level, in use in this country. – The Hindu, February 27, 1996

As against attempts by earlier writers, the presentation, the illustrations and the exercises are all executed very well. The text is interspersed with some geometrical constructions and graphs presumably to answer the requirements of the system. – Bhavan’s Journal, Vol.46, No.14, February 2000

J.T. Glover rightly states, mathematics has two directions-an outer and an inner. The outer direction is fulfilled by applying the mathematical formulae. The inner direction is the investigation of the real nature of the working phenomena from the origin of man or universe up to the ultimate reality. There are many more interesting and intelligent short-cuts in multiplication, division and so on. This book also demonstrates how ‘Vedic Mathematics belongs not only to an hoary antiquity but also is … as modern as the day after tomorrow.’ – S.V.U. Oriental Journal, Vol.xliii

About the Author(s)

James Glover has been developing the use of Vedic Mathematics in education for over thirty years and has written five books on the subject. He is one of the foremost teachers of Vedic Maths and has run may public courses and lectures on the subject. He lives and teaches in London.