Doing Simple Calculations Quickly

[premedmind]

What would be the most efficient way to calculate, say 3.0/.75 or 1.5/6?

1.5/6 I would round 1.5 to 2 so it would be 2/6 then reduce to 1/3 which is .33....is this the best way?

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[texahn]

3/ (3/4) = 4

 

[sportsfreak]

6/1.5=4
so then just 1 over 4, which is .25

 

[mkracker]

300/75 and 15/60

 

[Mattabet]

300/75 and 15/60

That's what I would have had my students do. Multiply top and bottom by a 'clever form of one' (ie, 4/4 or 10/10) to get rid of the decimals, and divide the integers. Different things work for different people, but when I taught, students seemed most consistent with that method.

 

[SN2ed]

Round. Round like crazy. Most of the time, the MCAT answers are so far apart that even large rounding can still get you the right answer.

MCAT math problems usually look something like this:

A. -6
B. -60
C. 60
D 6

Also, check out the Arithmetic tricks thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=528674&highlight=Arithmetic+Tips+Tricks