Mental Maths is the Maths we do in our heads without the use of calcu lators and without writing down the calculation. Mental Maths strategies are the 'ºtricks' we use to do Maths in our heads. There are differe nt ways of finding the answer to any Mental Maths problem, and such stra tegies are the focus of this series. Even though calculators and compute rs play an enormous role in the modern world, we still need to go back t o the basics Ê we do need to know how to check that the sales assistant at the counter is giving us the right change! Mental Maths has become m ore important than ever and new primary Maths syllabuses in Australia ar e reflecting this. For example, NSW has placed an emphasis on Mental Mat hs in its primary syllabus, and even the Year 10 School Certificate exam ination has a compulsory non-calculator section.

Features of this book include:

• 32 double-page units of Mentals are included Ê 8 units for each school term
• each unit is divided into four sets (A,B,C and D) of 15 questions each
• each numbered question covers particular Maths topics throughout the book: for example, Questi on 1 always covers addition, while Question 15 always covers geometry
• a special º'Help' section at the front of the book gives diffe rent strategies and explanations to help students solve Mentals problems . These are also numbered so they link to the question numbers in each M entals unit
• a ºFun Spot unit, containing fun activities, and a ºRevision unit are included at the end of each 8 units
• º extra practice sections which reinforce particular strategies appear i n the lower part of each page
• answers to all questions are in a lift-out section in the centre of the book