You're A Mathematical Genius, You Know!

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You're A Mathematical Genius, You Know!

(c) Copyright 2003 by Murdo Macleod

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This may come as a surprise to you.

But the truth is, you really are good at mathematics.

You see, every day you solve complex problems by breaking
them down into tiny little "baby steps".

And just like the world's most powerful computer or the
greatest ever mathematical prodigy, it's this step-by-step
process that enables you to do practically anything.

Let's see this process in action with a couple of examples:

* * * Example 1 - Calculating the Dreaded Sales Tax

The sales tax rate varies around the world, but here in the
UK it's 17.5%. Urgh! What kind of figure is that?

Let's look at it again and see how we can tame the beast by
breaking it down.

17.5

It consists of 10, plus 5 plus 2.5, doesn't it?

And those numbers form a distinct sequence. In other
words... "10, plus half, plus half again".

Now that we know this, we can do something really clever...

Suppose you want to calculate 17.5% of 40 UK pounds. How
would you work this out? (Stop! Don't even think of
reaching for that calculator!)

Start with the 10. 10% of 40 is 4. Add half (2) and
half again (1) and you get 7.

So you proudly announce to your colleagues... "So by adding
17.5% sales tax to our