Math Exercises for the Brain

OLLI
Winter, 2017
Math Exercises for the Brain
For decades, it was thought that the brain inexorably lost nerve
cells, or neurons, as we aged, and that we could never grow new
ones.
We now know that the brain isn’t “hard-wired” as we once
believed. It can grow new neurons, tie them together to form new
neural pathways, and rewire itself. All we have to do is to keep
thinking, learning, experiencing, and remembering – “exercising
our brain”.
What goes on in these different parts of the brain?
How will doing math puzzles improve them?
Pattern recognition
These puzzles work your executive functions in your
frontal lobes by using your pattern recognition,
hypothesis testing, and logic.

Example: What comes next in this sequence?

6, 20, 27, 41, 48, 62, ___

6, 20, 27, 41, 48, 62, 69

Add 14, add 7, add 14, add 7, …

Logic Problems
These puzzles touch on analytical functions like abstract
reasoning, hypothesis testing, and implicit assumptions residing in
your frontal lobes, as well as your creativity in finding novel
solutions to problems and emotional memory.

Example: Jan and Jill ran into each other at a reunion. They
hadn’t seen one another since their school days. “Good grief,” Jan
told Jill, “you must have gained a hundred pounds!” Jill was not
overweight. So, why was Jan’s estimate accurate?
However, when it comes to logic problems, you
may have to use your reasoning skills more than
your memory skills, as it is likely that you do not
know the answer immediately. In this case, the
frontal exercise is more intense.
You have five segments of chain and want to connect them
all into one single length of chain.

It costs 5 cents to break a link and 10 cents to weld it again.

What is the least it would cost to join the five segments
shown?
Is your answer 45 cents? Good for you!

It costs 5 cents to break a link and 10 cents to weld it again.

What is the least it would cost to join the five segments
shown?
Break one section into three separate links: 15 cents

Use the “opened” links to connect the other sections: 30 cents

Memory relies mostly on some temporal (in green)
and frontal (in red) areas of the brain. These may
be the areas that will get stimulated when you try
to recall arithmetic facts or how to use them with
different operations.
Do this in your head:

Add one thousand twenty and one thousand twenty…Now add

twenty to your answer…Add twenty again…Now add ten…And
add ten again. What’s your total?
The answer is 2,100. Is that your answer? Magnificent!

Did you come up with 3,000? That’s what most people get.
You need more practice!
Algebra and Computations
If you have a good memory for “math facts,” such as simple sums
and differences and the multiplication tables, then you don’t have
to waste mental energy on performing these calculations and can
concentrate instead on more interesting problems.

Example: Use four 2’s and arithmetic operations so that the

resulting answer is “1”.
Use four 2’s and arithmetic operations so that the resulting
answer is “1”.

22 2.2
22 2.2

22 2 2

22 2 2
The Trachtenberg Speed System of Mathematics was
developed by a Russian Jewish engineer, Jakow
Trachtenberg, in order to keep his mind occupied while being
held in a Nazi concentration camp. The Trachtenberg system
allows one to perform arithmetic computations very quickly.

Examples:

• Quick multiplying by 11
• Multiplying two 2-digit numbers
Multiply: 345,624  11

To do this, put 0’s at the beginning and end. Then, starting at

the right, add the adjacent digits together, adding carry-overs to
the next sum.
0 3 4 5 6 2 4 0
V V V V V V V
3 8 0 1 8 6 4

345,624  11 = 3,801,864
Multiply :
45
 23
Multiply two right numbers; keep track of carry-over.
Multiply two “criss-cross”, add products plus carry-over.
Multiply the two left numbers (add the carry-over).
45
 23
 45
 23

5 3 = 15 Put down 5, “carry” 1.

45
 23
5 1 is saved for later
 45
 23
5 1 is saved for later

4  3 = 12
5  2 = 10

12 + 10 + 1 = 23
45
Put down the 3 and “carry” the 2.  23
35
 45 Have a “carry over” of 2.
 23
35
42 = 8

8 + 2 = 10

Write in the 10.

45
 23
103 5
Enough numbers for a while?
What do you see?
The brain has two hemispheres, each divided
into four lobes. Each lobe is responsible for
different functions.
• the frontal cortex is responsible for decision
making, planning, and some memory
• the temporal lobe (in green) for language
and memory
• the parietal lobe (in yellow) for spatial skills
• the occipital lobe is entirely devoted to
vision: It is thus the place where visual
illusions happen.
The visual system processes shapes, colors, sizes,
etc. One way to understand more about this
system is to look at how we can trick it, that is, to
look at how the brain reacts to visual illusions.
What do you see?
Optical Illusions
Our visual perception is created by our brain’s interpretation of
visual information entering through the visual pathway. The
visual cortex in your occipital lobe processes visual input from
your eyes. Not only is the occipital lobe mainly responsible for
visual reception, it also contains association areas that help in the
visual recognition of shapes and colors.
Inspiration for M C Escher?
Manipulative Puzzles and Pencil Puzzles
Again, the occipital lobe contains association areas that help in
the visual recognition of shapes and colors. The problem solving,
selective attention, and executive functions used in these
exercises are handled by the anterior portion of the frontal lobes.

Example: Line up ten buttons in five rows with four buttons in

each row.
Miscellaneous Puzzles
Example: You’ve spent the last year building your home. Now
it’s time to add an important part to your project. When you go
to the hardware store to get what you need, the items are priced
as follows:
 One will cost $5.
 Two will cost $5.
 Twelve will cost $10.
 A hundred forty-four will cost $15.
What are these items?
1

12

144
From December 25, 2016 Parade Magazine:

The Power of the Puzzle

How do you keep the brain sharp? The key, says Marilyn vos
Savant, is to mix it up and try different ways to give your brain
a workout. “The most important part about staying sharp is
doing novel things,” she says. “It’s much better to solve 20
different problems every day than working at a computer doing
the same thing.” That may be one of the main reasons puzzles
remain so popular. “People like to exercise their brains,” she
says. “It gives them a feeling of accomplishment, that ‘Aha! I
did that – I got it right.’ It feels good and it’s good for you.”
Numbrix creator Marilyn vos Savant just so happens to have
recorded the highest IQ in the world -- an achievement that helped
lead to her gig at Parade Magazine. In the 1950s, at the tender age
of 10, the St. Louis-born vos Savant correctly answered every
question on the adult Stanford-Binet IQ test, which translated into
an astoundingly high IQ of 228. It wasn't until much later -- 1985,
in fact -- that she was recognized by Guinness World Records for
having the highest recorded IQ, a category Guinness eventually
removed because of worries that intelligence tests were too
disparate to allow for just one record holder.
55 53 47 17 11

Numbrix:
59 9

Created by
65 5 Marilyn Vos Savant

71 3

73 77 37 31 1

Complete 1 to 81 so the num bers follow a

horizontal or vertical path - no diagonals.
55 54 53 48 47 18 17 12 11

56 57 52 49 46 19 16 13 10

59 58 51 50 45 20 15 14 9

60 61 62 43 44 21 22 7 8

65 64 63 42 41 24 23 6 5

66 67 68 81 40 25 26 27 4

71 70 69 80 39 34 33 28 3

72 75 76 79 38 35 32 29 2

73 74 77 78 37 36 31 30 1
Grid Puzzles and Magic Squares
Factual memory is the ability to recall math facts; procedural
memory is the ability to recall steps/order needed to perform
mathematics. The left parietal lobe has been associated with
arithmetic fact retrieval and is the region involved with
processing numerical quantity.

Ken Ken: Each row and column contains the digits 1, 2, 3,

and 4. No repeats in any row or column. The arithmetic problem
tells you how the digits are related (what the answer is when using
the digits).
7+ 2

2 3- 6X

2- 4

3+ 7+
Math Exercises for the Brain
• Pattern Recognition
• Grid Puzzles
• Algebra and Computations
• Optical Illusions
• Logic Problems
Why exercise the brain?
Transience – memories degrade with the passing of time. This
can happen in sensory, short-term, and long-term storage. It
follows a general pattern where the information is rapidly
forgotten during the first couple of days or years, followed by
small losses in later days or years.
One of the key concerns of older adults is the experience
of memory loss, especially as it is one of the hallmark
symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. However, memory loss is
qualitatively different in normal aging from the kind of
memory loss associated with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
Math Exercises for the Brain
• Manipulative Puzzles
• Pencil Puzzles
• Miscellaneous Puzzles
• Magic Squares
• Sam Loyd Puzzles
• Miscellaneous Brain Teasers
In which direction is the bus pictured below traveling?

The only possible answers are “left” or

“right”.
In which direction is the bus pictured below traveling?

When pre-school children are shown this brain teaser, they often
answer “left.”
Why?
“Because you can’t see the door.”
Next, you’ll find some “quick questions”.

Go ahead, “blurt out” your answer!

 Which month has 28 days?
 What’s the easiest way to double your money?
 What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
 What 4 days of the week start with the letter ‘t’?
 What goes up and doesn’t come back down?
 If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
 What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
 What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment and yet
never in a thousand years?
 What occurs twice in a week, once in a year but never in a day?
 If there are 4 apples and you take away 3, how many do you
have?
 Where do fish keep their money?
 How did the soccer fan know before the game that the score
would be 0-0?
 Which month has 28 days? All of them of course!
 What’s the easiest way to double your money? Put it in front of a mirror.
 What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? A clock
 What 4 days of the week start with the letter ‘t’? Tuesday, Thursday, today and tomorrow.
 What goes up and doesn’t come back down? Your age.
 If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five? 9
 What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive? A glove.
 What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment and yet never in a thousand years? The
letter m.
 What occurs twice in a week, once in a year but never in a day? The letter e.
 If there are 4 apples and you take away 3, how many do you have? You took 3 apples so obviously you
have 3.
 Where do fish keep their money? In the river bank.
 How did the soccer fan know before the game that the score would be 0-0? The score is always 0-0
before the game.
Three missionaries and three cannibals want to get to the other
side of a river. There is a small boat, which can fit only two. To
prevent a tragedy, there can never be more cannibals than
missionaries together.

How could all of them get safely across the river?

M

C
C
C
First Trip Second Trip

M M
C C C
M M

M M C

C C
 Third Trip Fourth Trip

M M

C
M M
C C
M M C

CC
 Fifth Trip Sixth Trip

M M
C C
C M
C
C M C

M M
 Seventh Trip Eighth Trip

C M
C C M
C
C C M
M

M M
 Ninth Trip Tenth Trip

C M
M
C
M C M
M C
C C M
 Eleventh Trip

There are other correct

solutions. Can you find a
shorter solution?
M
M
C C M

C
If you had a 5-liter jug and a 3-liter jug, and an unlimited access
to water, how would you measure exactly 4 liters?
 5

3 2
2

2 5 2

4 3
A Petri dish hosts a healthy colony of bacteria. Once a minute
every bacterium divides into two. The colony was founded by
a single cell at noon.

At exactly 12:43 (43 minutes later) the Petri dish was half
full.

At what time will the dish be full?

12:43 Half-full

12:44 Full
Math Exercises for the Brain
• Manipulative Puzzles
• Pencil Puzzles
• Miscellaneous Puzzles
• Magic Squares
• Sam Loyd Puzzles
• Miscellaneous Brain Teasers
Where do you find more puzzles?

• In the library
• At the bookstore
• Online