It is not very often that people are without a calculator of some sort close at hand. I’ve seen people whip out various cell phones to calculate tip percentages when at a group dinner. We hardly have a need anymore for true mental arithmetic. But have we lost something in the process of gaining speedy, error-free calculations? In his 1897 book, Milne’s Mental Arithmetic, William J. Milne claimed:
There are many who believe that Mental Arithmetic is one of the most valuable studies in a school curriculum. There can be no doubt that if the subject is properly taught it develops a habit of concentration of mind, which is one of the most desirable ends to be attained by any scheme of education.
Milne’s small book published in 1897 demonstrates his method. The book is not a collection of easy problems designed to give the student practice in the simple processes of arithmetic, but rather 172 pages of exercises of gradually increasing difficulty which enable the student with effort to solve problems whose solution might seem to be almost impossible without resorting to ciphering.
Here’s one of the first problems: Continue reading
Many of us in the United States are consumed with discussing the economic crisis here. While not meaning to make light of a very real situation, I would like to give all of us a little perspective. I have a friend in Zimbabwe and this is a letter I recently received. I am keeping the name confidential. It is long, but it is one that I think is valuable to read. This is one person’s heart-cry on behalf of many. I beg, dear reader, that we keep perspective and we pray.