• First thing one has to do is to get rid of fear from maths to do complex calculations.
• Second thing is keeping mind peace, and this would increase the concentration power and thinking abilities.
• Third start from the small, do small calculations and try to increase the speed of the calculation,
• Fourth eventually increase the digits of the calculations and try to increase the speed of calculations.
• Fifth Use different numbers and examples for calculating.

These are few of the questions that are taken from puzzle to puzzle you by Shakuntala Devi

One day I decided to walk all the way from Bangalore to Tumkur. I started exactly at noon. And someone I know in Tumkur decided to walk all the way to Bangalore from Tumkur and she started exactly at 2 JP.M., on the same day.We met on the Bangalore-Tumkur Road at five past four, and we both reached our destination at exactly the same time.At what time did we both arrive?

The product of three consecutive numbers when divided by each of them in turn, the sum of the three quo-tients will be 74.What are the numbers?

A fraction has the denominator greater than its numerator by 6. But if you add 8 to the denominator, the value of the fraction would then become 1. Can you find this fraction?

A man wafts to reach up a window 40 ft. from the ground. The distance from the foot of the ladder to the wall is 9 feet.How long should the ladder be?

While driving through the countryside one day I saw a farmer tending his pigs and ducks in his yard. I was curious to know how many of each he had. I stopped the car and inquired.Leaning on the stile jovially, he replied,’I have altogether 60 eyes and 86 feet between them.’I drove off trying to calculate in my mind the exact number of ducks and pigs he had. What do you think is the answer?

One day I found a strange thing happening to my watch—the minute hand and the hour hand were coming together every sixty-five minutes. I decided to have it seen to.Was my watch gaining or losing time, and how much per hour?

A box contains 12 marbles of three different colors green, yellow and blue—4 each. If you were to close your eyes and pick them at random, how many marbles must you take out to be sure that there are at least two of one color among the marbles picked out?

There is a number whose double is greater than its half by 45.Can you find this number?

A heavy tree trunk can be sawed into a piece 12 ft long in one minute. How long will it take to saw it into twelve equal pieces?

There is a number which is greater than the aggregate of its third, tenth and the twelfth parts by 58. Can you find the number?

There are two numbers with the difference of 3 between them and the difference of their squares is 51. Can you find the numbers?

Can you place 10 coins in such a way that they lie in 5 straight lines and on each line there are 4 coins? There are at least two solutions.

• She was born and grew up in a semi-slum area in Gavipuram, Guttahalli, Bangalore.
• As her family’s financial conditions were not good she used to do roadshows with her father to earn for living. She used to do magic card tricks. That is where her father recognized that she got immense potential in the field of maths and have a great memory. All these things happened when she was 3 years old.

• She used to work in the circus for fulfilling the stomach of their family.

• At the age of 10, when she was in class 1 she couldn’t pay for her school fee and because of which she was removed from her school.

• She has traveled to many places around the globe to spread the knowledge of maths.

• Not only in maths but she was even interested in Astrology. She was a great writer too. She has written more than 20 books in her lifetime.

• She was even interested in political issues, she stood up against Indra Gandhi in Medhak. She even has written a lot of books related to political issues, rural issues and women empowerment.

• Shakuntala Devi was born in an Orthodox Brahmin Family. But as she belongs to the poor family had to work in the circus to earn for their lively hood. This made her down to the earning person. She knew the value or money and hunger.
• And as she was been removed from the school as she couldn’t pay her fee, she even knows the value of education. years later she started her charity where she used to give free training to the poor who wanted to learn maths.
• She was a social worker too, she tried to compete with Indra Gandhi from Medak for the sake of Medak People.
• She had worked closely with Homosexual people while writing her book “The World of Homosexuals“. She has seen the lives of homosexual people closely.
• She worked for rural development and women empowerment, she used to go to villages and used to meet women closely and tried to understand how they used to live she used to work on making their lives better.
• Her books Rural Credits and Agricultural Development, Tradition and modernity among Indian women, Women’s Status and Social Change and Caste System in India show her afford towards making the lives of people better.

• When it comes to the contribution towards the advancement of mathematics, she has worked immensely on it.

• From childhood itself, she used to do card tricks and maths tricks on the roads and used to explain to people how to do those tricks.

• She has worked closely with a few of the educational researchers like a professor of psychology, Arthur Jensen, at the University of California, Berkeley.

• She wrote many books in maths like

• More Puzzles to Puzzle You
• Puzzles to Puzzle You
• Figuring the Joy of Numbers
• Mathematical merry-go-round
• Astrology for You
• The Book of Numbers Part 1
• Awaken the genius in your child
• Systems of Education
• An ABC Adventure
• Math ability: Awaken The Math Genius In Your Child
• Book of Numbers
• In the Wonderland of Numbers
• Super Memory

• Her each book have more than 200 puzzles covering almost all the aspects of mathematics covering topics like

1. Digits,
2. Addition,
3. Subtraction,
4. Multiplication,
5. Highest Common Factor,
6. Percentages
7. Interests,
8. Discounts,
9. Fractions,
10. Squares,
11. Decimals,
12. Cube Roots.
13. Calendar,
14. Special Numbers
15. Tricks/ Puzzles.

These books are mostly meant to get rid of the fear of mathematics.

• According to Shakuntala Devi,

  ” Astrology is the science that describes the influence of the heavenly bodies upon mundane affairs and upon human character and life. The oldest science in existence, it is the science of the effects of the Solar Currents on the living things of our earth, especially on human life. Knowledge is power! And Astrology is the master key to the lock of truth. By knowing what our destiny indicates and by knowing what pitfalls lie ahead of us, and the courses which threaten disaster, we can exercise our choice to determine the best course to avert the catastrophe. To be forewarned is to be forearmed! The horoscope indicates the pattern on which life is built. The stars indicate what will come to pass. But with intelligence and free will, one can change the natural course of events. The wise man cooperates with the stars and, by doing so, adds to his happiness, efficiency, and usefulness in the world. But the fool thinks that he rules the stars! Astrology points out the potentialities, capabilities, and limitations of the individual. “

  With her knowledge of Mental Mathematics and with her interest in Astrology, she gave a great contribution towards Astrology. Her book Astrology for you will enlighten you on how she grew up her stake about astrology and how she ended up being an astrologer.

Shakuntala Devi Who is also considered as human computer and have done remarkable work in the field of maths , astrology and education. She used to calculate complex calculations in seconds in her mind within seconds. All these things she was able to do because not only was she born genius and she was into this from childhood, and she used to practice a lot in this, but she used to follow other things too…

According to her book, Super Memory: It can be yours, she has mentioned so many things that would also make you intelligent. Few of her things are mentioned below:

1. Throw Out the Mental Clutter
2. Keep an Open Mind
3. Rev-Up Your Powers of Concentration
4. Take it Easy!
5. Check your Diet
6. Memory Foods: A Ready Reckoner
7. Check your Alcohol Intake
8. Get into that Sun
9. Muscle Up your Memory
10. Get Good Medical Care
11. Think you Can — and You Will
12. Crush These Memory Myths
13. Do You Lead With Your Eyes or Your Ears or…?
14. Remember names with Nicknames Better
15. How to Remember a List of ‘Things-I-must-do-today’
16. Remember the Person by Remembering the Personality

• The Eyes
• The Facial Features
• Distinctive Features
• Gestures
• Smile and Laugh
• The Voice

How to Remember Telephone Numbers

• The Grouping Method
• The Rhyming Method

Memorize the Longest Number in the World!

• The Number-Sound Code Explained
• Get Set Now for Some Net Practice!
• Words to Numbers, Numbers to Words

Don’t Allow Yourself to Become One-Dimensional

• Learn to Say ‘No’
• Do Not Strive for Perfection
• Delegate, Delegate!
• Live for Today

The Best Ways to Take Notes

• Keep Two Notepads.

A Good Memory Makes A Great Speaker!

• Don’t Memorise Your Speech!
• Do Put Your Memory to Work on Your Speech
• Prepare a Speech Plan
• Don’t Worry About Nervousness
• Do Look at Your Audience
• Do Trust Your Memory
• Trust Your Memory’s ‘Reserve Power’

And One Last Thing: Practise, Practise … Just Do It!

• Shakuntala Devi was very well versed in chess too. She knew every tip and trick of chess.
• In her book Super Memory: It can be yours, she has dedicated a complete chapter based on chess itself.

• In this chapter, she explains about chess rules and chess players. She shares tips and tricks about how to play chess.

For example, Consider an abstract from her book:

• Rhyme-around the board in 34 moves!

As any chess player will tell you, the knight is a strategic piece on the board, a guerrilla who engages in sniper attacks. Though in the hierarchy, he is just above the humble pawn, in the hands of a master strategist, he can be more powerful than the queen!

• What we are going to do in this chapter is to chart out a tour of the chessboard for the knight in such a the way that he travels over the entire board but lands on each square just once. No, you don’t have to be a chess player to ride with this knight. But you’ll be completely absorbed and enthralled by the memory the system that you’ll use to pilot the knight on his journey.
• In her other books, like More Puzzles, she has written a lot of puzzles that were related to chess. She makes readers think about chess.
• In my opinion, if she would have opted for chess as a career option, she would have been a remarkable chess player.

Here are few of the books written by her.

1. 1976: More Puzzles to Puzzle You
2. 1976: Perfect Murder
3. 1979: Puzzles to Puzzle You
4. 1979: Gods and Goddesses in Indian Mythology
5. 1977: The world of Homosexuals
6. 1977: Figuring the Joy of Numbers
7. 1982: Mathematical merry-go-round
8. 1990: Figuring: The Joy of Numbers: Record-Breaking Mathematical Magic from the World’s Fastest Human-Computer
9. 1996: Social Planning in India
10. 1996: Rural Credits and Agricultural Development
11. 1997: The blessed fisherman and other stories
12. 1998: Tradition and modernity among Indian women
13. 1999: Awaken the genius in your child
14. 1999: Women’s Status and Social Change
15. 1999: Caste System in India
16. 2002: Systems of Education
17. 2002: An ABC Adventure
18. 2005: Math ability: Awaken The Math Genius In Your Child
19. 2005: Astrology for You
20. 2006: Book of Numbers
21. 2006: In the Wonderland of Numbers
22. 2006: Environment and Rural Development
23. 2006: Employment of Labour and Rural Development
24. 2012: Super Memory