Whenever I do math in my head, I spend a moment trying to find the easiest way to do it.

For example, if I were multiplying something by five, I'd multiply it by ten and then divide the answer by two.

Example: 345 x 5 = something I can't do very quickly.

but 345 x 10 = 3450 split in two = 1725, seconds flat.

The catch is that sometimes I spend too much time thinking up an easy way to do a problem, and it takes me *longer* than it would just to do it the hard way.

--Jez"which, funnily enough, is the story of my life"zika