Quick Maths

How to play

A sum appears with four possible answers. Pick the right one. You have sixty seconds and every correct answer scores a point.

The difficulty is tied to your current streak rather than to the clock, so it rises as you get things right and drops back when you get one wrong. That means the game finds your level within about fifteen seconds and stays there, which is more useful than a fixed ramp.

Addition and subtraction appear from the start. Multiplication joins at streak four, division at streak twelve. The numbers grow at every level.

Mental arithmetic tricks that actually help

Round and correct

For addition, push one number to a round figure and adjust afterwards. 47 plus 38 is easier as 50 plus 38 minus 3, which is 88 minus 3, so 85. This is faster than column addition and much less error prone in your head.

Subtract by counting up

83 minus 47 is awkward as a subtraction and easy as a question about distance. From 47 to 50 is 3, from 50 to 83 is 33, so the answer is 36. Almost nobody is taught this and it is considerably quicker.

Break multiplication apart

17 times 6 is 10 times 6 plus 7 times 6, so 60 plus 42, which is 102. For anything times 9, multiply by 10 and subtract the number once: 14 times 9 is 140 minus 14, so 126. For anything times 5, halve it and multiply by 10.

Use the last digit

This is the single best trick for a multiple choice format, and it often makes the arithmetic unnecessary. You do not need the whole answer, only enough to eliminate three options.

For 23 times 7, the last digit must be the last digit of 3 times 7, which is 1. If only one option ends in 1, you are done without multiplying anything. The same works for addition and subtraction, and it turns a two second calculation into a half second glance.

Estimate the size first

23 times 7 is a bit more than 20 times 7, so somewhere above 140 and well under 210. Combined with the last digit rule, that usually leaves exactly one candidate.

Why speed here is mostly recall

Fast mental arithmetic is not fast calculation. It is a large store of retrieved facts plus a small amount of manipulation. Someone who instantly knows 7 times 8 is not computing it, they are remembering it, and that frees their attention for the part that genuinely needs thinking.

This is why the tables matter more than they seem to. Everything up to 12 times 12 retrieved instantly, rather than worked out, is what makes larger problems tractable, because it removes the small calculations that otherwise consume the working memory you need for the big one.

The practical implication for improving your score here: drill the facts you hesitate on, rather than trying to think faster in general. Most people have three or four multiplication facts they consistently pause over, commonly around 7s and 8s. Fixing those specific gaps helps more than any amount of general practice.

What is a good score

Correct in 60s	Roughly
Under 15	Working each one out carefully
15 to 25	Comfortable with the arithmetic
25 to 40	Recalling rather than calculating
Above 40	Using elimination rather than solving

Worth noting that a high score here largely reflects using the last digit trick. That is not cheating, it is exactly the kind of shortcut that makes arithmetic practical, and it is a skill of its own.

Your best score is stored in your browser on your own device and never uploaded.

Common questions