Most people don't realize that anyone can learn to multiply three digit numbers in their head, with just a little bit of practice.
The key is learning to multiply from left to right instead of right to left (as everyone is taught in grammar school).
I have a couple of books on the subject but am not aware of any e-resources -- I will look around and see what I can find.
In the meantime, here's a funny math riddle:
An alien comes to visit the earth in a tiny spaceship. He wants to learn as much as possible about earth culture, so naturally he asks the Earth inhabitants for all the resources they can give him on Earth's culture, history, beliefs and traditions, etc.
After reading several volumes of encyclopedias, classic books, religious texts, and so on, he decides to record all this information so he can take it back with him and share with his home planet.
To do so, he talkes out a silver rod, and makes one tiny notch on it with a marking instrument.
The "Earthlings" are perplexed. How can one tiny notch on a rod encode all of that information?
[This message has been edited by garics (edited January 24, 2006).]
