times table or the 25 times table. Then have them call out any combination for you to solve. They can
check your answer with a calculator. Even if you feel you are slow giving the answer, they will just
think this is one combination you don’t know very well. I think most of your friends would prefer to
think you have memorised the tables than to think you can calculate the answers in a flash. Then, when
you are finished, ‘confess’ to your friends that you don’t have them memorised, you actually worked
them out as they gave them to you. They won’t know whether to believe you or not! It is a fun way to
practise and to learn your tables — and a fun way to show off your skills.
Advice For Geniuses
I have often said that people think you are very intelligent if you are very good at mathematics. People
will treat you differently; your friends, your classmates and your teachers. Everyone will think you are
extra smart. Here is some advice for handling your new status.
Firstly, don’t explain how you do everything. Author Isaac Asimov tells how he explained how he
solved a mathematical problem to someone serving him in a store. When she heard the explanation she
said scornfully, ‘Oh, it was just a trick.’ He hadn’t used the method she had been taught at school. It was
almost like he had cheated.
My methods are not tricks. Sometimes people will introduce me as someone who teaches maths
tricks. I never like that. ‘Tricks’ to me implies trickery — you aren’t really doing what you appear to be.
Also, people react with the comment, ‘Oh, for a moment I thought you had done something clever.’
They also often add, ‘Well, anyone could do that,’ once they know how you did it. When I am giving a
class I will usually say, ‘That’s what makes my methods so good. Anyone can do it!’