Originally Posted by
Pinky the pilot
When I first read that part of the original post my first reaction was along the lines of..."and just how many People could actually work that out in their heads??"
I used to top the Class in Primary School in Mental Arithmetic (mid to late 60's) when it was a fundamental part of Schooling in South Australian Primary Schools.
I'd struggle to even begin to calculate that sort of problem now!
OK fellow Ppruners; Be honest now! Whom amongst us could do that calculation?
It is easy, however brute force is not the easy way to do it in your head, break it down to multiple simple calculations which are fast and easy
13852=14000-148
13852/8=14000/8-148/8
14000/8=14000/2->7000/2->3500/2->1750
148/8=148/2->74/2->37/2->18.5=20-1.5
1750-20+1.5=1731.5
Anyone can do that in your head broken down like that.