12
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Math in Your Head!
Dive right into the joys of mental math. First, learn the fundamental strategies of mental arithmetic (including the value of adding from left to right, unlike what you do on paper). Then, discover how a variety of shortcuts hold the keys to rapidly solving basic multiplication problems and finding squares.
1.
Math in Your Head!
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7.
Intermediate Multiplication
Take mental multiplication to an even higher level. Professor Benjamin shows you five methods for accurately multiplying any two-digit numbers. Among these: the squaring method (when both numbers are equal), the "close together" method (when both numbers are near each other), and the subtraction method (when one number ends in 6, 7, 8, or 9).
7.
Intermediate Multiplication
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2.
Mental Addition and Subtraction
Professor Benjamin demonstrates how easily you can mentally add and subtract one-, two-, and three-digit numbers. He also shows you shortcuts using the complement of a number (its distance from 100 or 1000) and demonstrates the uses of mental addition and subtraction for quickly counting calories and making change.
2.
Mental Addition and Subtraction
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8.
The Speed of Vedic Division
Vedic mathematics, which has been around for centuries, is extremely helpful for solving division problems—much more efficiently than the methods you learned in school. Learn how Vedic division works for dividing numbers of any length by any two-digit numbers.
8.
The Speed of Vedic Division
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3.
Go Forth and Multiply
Delve into the secrets of easy mental multiplication—Professor Benjamin's favorite mathematical operation. Once you've mastered how to quickly multiply any two-digit or three-digit number by a one-digit number, you've mastered the most fundamental operations of mental multiplication and added a vital tool to your mental math tool kit.
3.
Go Forth and Multiply
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9.
Memorizing Numbers
Think that memorizing long numbers sounds impossible? Think again. Investigate a fun—and effective—way to memorize numbers using a phonetic code in which every digit is given a consonant sound. Then practice your knowledge by trying to memorize the first 24 digits of pi, all of your credit card numbers, and more.
9.
Memorizing Numbers
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4.
Divide and Conquer
Turn now to the last fundamental operation of arithmetic: division. Explore a variety of shortcuts for dividing by one- and two-digit numbers; learn how to convert fractions such as 1/7 and 3/16 into decimals; and discover methods for determining when a large number is divisible by numbers such as 3, 7, and 11.
4.
Divide and Conquer
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10.
Calendar Calculating
The fun continues in this lecture with determining the day of the week of any date in the past or in the future. What day of the week was July 4, 2000? How about February 12, 1809? You'd be surprised at how easy it is for you to grasp the simple mathematics behind this handy skill.
10.
Calendar Calculating
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5.
The Art of Guesstimation
In most real-world situations—such as figuring out sales tax or how much to tip—you don't need an exact answer but just a reasonable approximation. Here, develop skills for effectively estimating addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square roots.
5.
The Art of Guesstimation
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11.
Advanced Multiplication
Professor Benjamin shows you how to do enormous multiplication problems in your head, such as squaring three-digit and four-digit numbers; cubing two-digit numbers, and multiplying two-digit and three-digit numbers. While you may not frequently encounter these large problems, knowing how to mentally solve them cements your knowledge of basic mental math skills.
11.
Advanced Multiplication
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6.
Mental Math and Paper
Sometimes we encounter math problems on paper in our daily lives. Even so, there are some rarely taught techniques to help speed up your calculations and check your answers when you are adding tall columns of numbers, multiplying numbers of any length, and more.
6.
Mental Math and Paper
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12.
Masters of Mental Math
Professor Benjamin concludes his exciting course by showing how you can use different methods to solve the same problem; how you can find the cube root of large perfect cubes; how you can use the techniques you've learned and mastered in the last 11 lectures; and more.
12.
Masters of Mental Math
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12
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
How Your Brain Works
In order to best optimize your brain fitness, it's important to understand how the brain's circuitry works. After a brief introduction to the course, Professor Restak guides you through a range of intriguing topics, including the principles of brain operation, the organization of the brain, patterns of brain growth, and more.
1.
How Your Brain Works
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7.
Exercising Your Working Memory
Focus now on working memory—the most important memory process of all and one that involves manipulating stored information. After an overview of the topic, dive into a series of engaging exercises that use your creativity, your powers of observation, and your heightened awareness to enhance and improve your working memory.
7.
Exercising Your Working Memory
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2.
How Your Brain Changes
Your brain and your intelligence can change throughout your life span. Here, look closer at the way changes in your brain can improve the way you function in your day-to-day life. Also, explore how a series of visual, sensory, and spatial exercises demonstrate the powerful effects of brain plasticity.
2.
How Your Brain Changes
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8.
Putting Your Senses to Work
Imaginative memory techniques—such as mnemonic devices and personal associations—have been used to improve memory for over 1,000 years. Try your hand at some of them right here, including "chunking" numbers to aid in number recall, creating a vivid story to memorize words, drawing free-form designs, and playing mental chess.
8.
Putting Your Senses to Work
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3.
Care and Feeding of the Brain
You can optimize your brain function by paying attention to three key habits: what you eat, how well you sleep, and how much you exercise. Ponder the science behind this three-pronged approach to caring for your brain, and come away with helpful tips you can apply to your own lifestyle.
3.
Care and Feeding of the Brain
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9.
Enlisting Your Emotional Memory
Turn now to an aspect of memory we don't usually consider when thinking about the subject: emotional memory. How did scientists uncover this specific aspect of memory? How does it actually work? And what kinds of playful exercises can you perform to help you relive the emotional experience of your past?
9.
Enlisting Your Emotional Memory
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4.
Creativity and the Playful Brain
What's the connection between daydreaming and creativity? What are four steps for increasing your creativity? Which puzzles are the best for optimizing your brain function—and how can you more efficiently solve them? Learn the answers to these and other questions in this fascinating lecture on creativity and the brain.
4.
Creativity and the Playful Brain
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10.
Practicing for Peak Performance
Exceptional performers aren't born with "superior brains." Rather, anyone—thanks to brain plasticity—can achieve high performance levels in an area of interest through deliberate practice. Focus here on two aspects of deliberate practice: remaining fully aware of what you're doing, and concentrating on the most difficult aspects of your performance.
10.
Practicing for Peak Performance
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5.
Focusing Your Attention
The basis of improving your memory: focusing your attention. Here, explore a range of topics, including the physiological effects of attention on your brain; the dangers of inattention; the benefits of enhanced attention; multitasking; exercises to improve your sustained attention, divided attention, and processing speed; and much more.
5.
Focusing Your Attention
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11.
Taking Advantage of Technology
Take a closer look at the impact of modern technology on how our brains function. You'll explore the positive and negative effects of electronic journals, personal computers, and more—with a lengthy discussion on the impact of one of today's most powerful and controversial influences on brain function: video games.
11.
Taking Advantage of Technology
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6.
Enhancing Your Memory
In the first of three lectures devoted to memory, Dr. Restak proves just how essential memory is to your brain's optimal functioning. After surveying the details of memory and its roots in the hippocampus, learn ways to sharpen your sense memory and augment both your short-term and long-term general memory.
6.
Enhancing Your Memory
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12.
Building Your Cognitive Reserve
Professor Restak concludes his course with ways to immediately start optimizing your brain fitness. These include trying new and unexpected things, learning in an informal and self-directed manner, keeping things in perspective, opting to prioritize instead of multitask, developing an appreciation for art and music, and—surprisingly—preparing home-cooked meals.
12.
Building Your Cognitive Reserve
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