"Math Drills -The Indian Way": a "study-aid book" that can be enjoyed by adults as well

These days, it is common to see books with titles such as "Indian-style xxx" or "Indian Mathematics xxx." Created for the purpose of invigorating the mind, these books elaborate on how to rapidly solve complicated problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division through performing mental calculation techniques based on India's Vedic mathematics.

An example of these techniques is as follows; to solve the problem of 36 x 11, multiply 36 with 10 and add 36 (x 1) to the result. As of now, ten books with such content can be confirmed and it seems likely that similar books of this nature will be published in the future by various other publishers.

The instigator of this boom is the publisher Shinyusha and its title "Math Drills - The Indian Way" was launched on March 19th and is currently a top seller in its 8th edition with 150,000 copies in circulation.

Among the many similar books that triggered the Indian mathematics boom in the publishing world, many of them introduce Indian calculation techniques as a form of entertainment. It is believed that the reason behind this book's success lies in the fact that in addition to offering this entertainment treatment, the book doubles as a source of reference that even children could understand.

Drawn by the sound of the title, "Math Drills -The Indian Way" and the gratification felt after having actually solved a problem with the book's help, parents tended to buy it as a study aid for their children, but ended up getting into it themselves. This fact then became spread by word of mouth and further appealed to adults who were fond of numbers or were interested in strengthening the mind or becoming more knowledgeable. In fact, the publisher may have designed the book to be picked up by such adults from the outset.

The reason educational publishers have not published books on Indian calculation methods is said to be because the teaching curriculum for children is already in place and they do not wish to teach any new calculation method from the beginning if it means having to disassemble this curriculum in the process. However, with orders coming in from teachers of both cramming schools and elementary schools, the book is drawing attention in the world of education as well.



*Some of the book titles are tentative translations.
Copyright(c) 2007 Shinbunka all rights reserved.