Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
The Magic of Maths summary
Arthur Benjamin
Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
15 mins
Topics
Table of Contents
The Magic of Maths
Summary of 8 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 8
Numerical patterns are not only magic – they can lead to real applications too.
Mathematics is more than just tedious textbooks and laborious calculations; it is a whole world of patterns that are not only magical, they can be really useful too.
Consider the so-called numerical patterns – patterns made of numbers – and their surprising and beautiful properties.
The author first discovered these patterns as a child, when he was playing with pairs of numbers that add up to 20:10 and 10, or 9 and 11, for instance.
He wondered: what’s the largest possible product I can get by multiplying these pairs together?
Let’s find out:
7x13=91
8x12=96
9x11=99
10x10=100
So, the largest product is when both numbers are 10. Nothing extraordinary, right?
But if you look closer, there’s something interesting about these numbers. Examine how far each product is from 100, counting downwards, and you’ll notice a pattern: 0, 1, 4, 9. These are the first square numbers, that is, the numbers that follow the sequence 1², 2², 3², and so on.
This pattern applies all the way up and down the scale: if we calculate 5 x 15, we can get back to 100 by adding 5². And what’s more, the same pattern emerges no matter what number the pairs add up to!
These numerical patterns aren’t only magical, they’re also useful in the real world. If we can learn their secrets, we can use them to increase the power of our mental arithmetic, that is, the calculations we make in our head.
For example, we can use the above pattern to easily calculate the square of a number.
Say you want to square the number 13. Instead of calculating 13x13– a nightmare to do mentally – we can perform the easier calculation 10*16 where both numbers add up to 26, just like 13 and 13.
Now we’ve got 10x16=160, but we’re not quite there yet. Our previous pattern tells us that since we went up and down 3 from 13, we need to add 3² to the result. Thus we get 13²=(10*16)+3²=160+9=169.
Want to see all full key ideas from The Magic of Maths?
Key ideas in The Magic of Maths
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is The Magic of Maths about?
The Magic of Maths (2015) reveals the magic hidden within the fascinating world of mathematics. These blinks will show you the beautiful and often surprising patterns of mathematical observations, expand your knowledge of geometry and algebra, teach you numerical party tricks and illuminate the mysterious properties of numbers like π (pi).
Best quote from The Magic of Maths
And yet, we often dont get to see that numbers possess a magic of their own, capable of entertaining us, if we just look below the surface.
—Arthur Benjamin
Who should read The Magic of Maths?
- Anyone interested in mathematical techniques, tricks and curiosities
- Professional and hobby mathematicians
Categories with The Magic of Maths
Books like The Magic of Maths
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
27 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers