CALCULATION TECHNIQUES

A dialogue between a student and a teacher:

Student: There are so many engineering colleges in Maharashtra. I shall appear for the
CET and easily get
admission to one of the colleges.
Teacher: But after passing out of an un-reputed college, you may either be jobless or have
to accept a job as a machine operator, a draftsman, a wireman etc. But if you
attempt and score in JEE, you can become and work as an engineer.
Student: But the exam is tough and even in solving Physics and Chemistry problems, we
must do fast mathematical calculations.
Teacher: And that too fast enough. So that you save some time and attempt a couple of
more questions, increasing your overall score.

The above dialogue clearly indicates why we must be good at calculations. We must learn
not only simple operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but also
squares, cubes, square-roots and cube-roots as well; because electronic calculators are
not allowed in the exams. And why fast? The following story will highlight the importance
of the speed.
A king ordered his pradhan (Prime minister) to buy a good horse for him. Pradhan went to
the market and saw a good horse and found that it costs Rs. 50,000/-. He went to another
seller where a better looking, strong and attractive horse was for sale for Rs. 1,00,000/- .
When Pradhan enquired why the price is so high, the seller said that his horse runs at the
speed of 100 km per hour. On searching further in the market, he found another good
horse, almost like the second one, but was priced at Rs. 2,00,000/-. Pradhan was surprised
for such a high price. The seller said that this is the fastest horse in the market and can
run at 101 km per hour. Pradhan said, Just for 1 kilometer, why should I pay double? The
seller coolly remarked, Then buy the previous horse. Your enemy will buy this one and
your king will get killed in war. Decide what is valuable, your king or Rs. 1,00,000/-. !!!
Every second in exam time is important. You save a few seconds and manage to solve
one extra question right, as compared to your competitors, and you may be above the
cutoff line. Isnt it same as life and death as far as the exam results are considered?
To score well in the entrance exam, we must learn the calculation techniques NOW, when
exams are yet far away. Remember:- He who sweats more in peace, bleeds less in war.

TABLES: All of us have learnt the tables in our primary schools. We had learnt them by
heart. Revise them now. You must learn the tables up to 30 in the same languageas
learnt earlier. If you had learnt in Marathi, revise them again in Marathi for example sola
eke sola, sola dune battis, . No need of translating them into English because you are
fastest that way. If you learnt in English medium, of course, you will recite as sixteen
ones are sixteen, sixteen twos are thirty-two, .etc.

SQUARES and CUBES: Squares up to 20 and cubes up to 10 are given below.

They must be learnt by heart.
12 = 1

112 = 121

13 = 1

22 = 4

122 = 144

23 = 8

32 = 9

132 = 169

33 = 27

42 = 16

142 = 196

43 = 64

52 = 25

152 = 225

53 = 125

62 = 36

162 = 256

63 = 216

72 = 49

172 = 289

73 = 343

82 = 64

182 = 324

92 = 81
102 = 1

00

83 = 512

192 = 361

93 = 729

202 = 400

103 = 1000

[A] In our problems, four alternative answers are given and we have to choose the
one closest to the correct one. Hence very accurate calculations are not required.
See the following questions.
Q1. 16.52 = ?
305

(a) 246

(b) 272

(c) 280

(d)

Sol: Since answer has to be between squares of 16 and 17, it must be between 256
and 289, but it cant be very close to either, as the given number is half way
through 16 and 17. Hence 280 cannot be the answer. Hence correct choice is (b)
272.

Q2: Find cube root of 80.

(d) 4.8

(a) 3.5

(b) 3.9

(c) 4.3

Sol: Since 80 is in between 64 and 125, our answer has to be between 4 and 5.
Hence (a)and (b) are wrong. Since 80 is closer to 64 than 125, answer should be
closer to 4 than 5. Hence 4.3 is the correct choice.

Note that squares and cubes increase faster as number increases. Hence even if
16.5 is half way of 16 and 17, its square is closer to 16 square than the square of
17. (272 256 = 16 while 289 272 is 17)
[B] We had learnt some short cuts in our schools. For example, dividing by 5 is
same as multiplying by 2, with a little adjustment of the decimal, the digits
remaining same. This can be done with common sense or by noting that N X 2 = N
X ( 10/5) Hence we shift decimal point accordingly. If you have learnt Vedic
Maths, the tricks can be used. We solve the following, assuming that we do not
know the Vedic Maths tricks.
Q3: 20.4 / 5 = ? Answer: 4.08 (Because 20.4 X 2 = 40.8) Since 20 /5 is 4 , our
answer is close to 4 and hence the decimal is placed after 4.

This idea can be extended to find answers to questions like 25% of X. This is same
as X/4.
Q4: Out of 150 students, 33% fail. How many pass?
Sol: Since 33% = 1/3, 150 X 1/3 = 50 students fail. Hence 100 pass.

[C] If 4 alternative answers are not given for a particular calculation, we must use
some other techniques to find squares, cubes and roots.
Q5. 1.82 = ? Since we have learnt 18 2 = 324, we can immediately reply 1.8 2 =
3.24 as our answer.
Q6. Find closest integer to 30.42 .
Sol: You can either multiply 30.4 X 30.4 or smarter way would be to note that (a +
x)2 = a2 + 2ax + x2.
If x is small x2 would be negligible. Assuming a = 30 and x = 0.4 , a 2= 900 and
2ax is 60 X 0.4 = 24,
We can write the answer as 924.

The above trick can be used to find square and cube roots as well.
Q7: Find square root of 150.

Sol: since 122 = 144 and 132 = 169, our answer is little larger than 12. Let us call
it 12+x.
Then (12 + x)2 = 144 + 24x +x2 = 150 given. And x2 is negligible. Hence we can
write
144 + 24x = 150 i.e. 24x = 6 i.e. x = 0.25 Hence square root of 150 is 12 + x =
12.25
(Answer correct to 3 decimal places is 12.247)
Q8. Find cube root of 680
Sol: Noting that 680 is smaller than 729 (i.e. 93), our answer is little smaller than 9.
And (9 x)3 = 93 3 X 92 X x + (negligible terms in x2 and x3) Hence we have
680 = 729 243x i.e. 243x = (729 680) = 49 giving x = 49 / 243 which is
approximately 1/5 = 0.2
Hence our answer is 9 0.2 = 8.8 (Note that 8.83 = 681.5)
Let us solve some practical questions.
Q9. Two spheres are made of same material. Sphere A has a surface area of 65
sq.m while B has a volume of 79 m3. Which is bigger?
Sol: If R1 is radius of sphere A and R2 that of B then,
4R12 = 65 and ( 4/3)(R23) = 79 . R12 =16.25 (>16) and R23 = () 79 =
59.25 (<64)
Hence R1 > 4 and R2 < 4 Hence Sphere A is bigger than sphere B.
Q10. A stone is thrown vertically upwards from ground with a speed of 70 m/s.
Find its height at t=5 s. Take g = 9.8 m/s 2 (a) 350.5 m (b) 227.5 m (c) 222.5 m
(d) 475 m
Sol: Using s = ut + at 2, u= +70; a = -10 and t = 5, we get s = 350 125 = 225
m.
Had we used g = 9.8, our second term would be a little smaller than 125 and
hence, answer a little larger than 225. Hence correct choice is (b) 227.5m.
Q11. Find the thickness of a hemispherical steel shell whose outer dia is 1 m and
mass is 12.25 kg.
(Density of steel = 7.8 g/cc.) Answers: (a) 0.5 mm (b) 1mm (c) 1.5 mm (d) 2mm
Sol. Volume of shell material is (4/3) (503 (50-t)3) cm3 where t = thickness in
cm. Multiplying this with density we will get its mass, which is 12200 grams.
12250 = (2/3) (503 (50-t)3) x 7.8 => 12200 x 3/2 = (503 (50-t)3) x 7.8
LHS is 12250 x 3 /2 = 6125 x 3 = 18375. Using = 22/7 and approximating 7.8 as
7.7,
we get RHS as 22 x 1.1 (503 (50-t)3) = 24.2 (503 (50-t)3)
18375 / 24.2 = (503 (50-t)3)
LHS can be approximated to 9180/12.1 or approximately (9120/12)= 760

From the 4 given answers, we note that t is very small (0.05 to0.2) . Hence, we
can write:
760 = 503 (503- 3 x 502 t) [ neglecting terms of t square and cubes.]
760 = 7500t t = 0.1 cm Ans (b)