mathematics

Mike Byster

Mike Byster is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mike Byster rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Byster (born March 5, 1959) is an American mental calculator, and math educator. He worked in the financial field until he quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods.

Key takeaways

Mike Byster belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mike Byster to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mike Byster from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Byster (born March 5, 1959) is an American mental calculator, and math educator. He worked in the financial field until he quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods. He has spoken to over 10,000 classrooms for free and continues to mentor children. Mike is able to do many arithmetic problems in his head at very fast speeds. During a study done years ago, Byster was claimed to have one of the fastest mathematical minds in the world.

Biography

Early life Byster was raised along with his older sister in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois. His parents Gloria and Dave encouraged his math shortcuts at a young age. He went to Niles North High School and then attended University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, graduating with a bachelor's degree in finance in 1981.

Career Byster worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but after his cousin, a math teacher in a Chicago area high school, invited him to show the class his shortcuts for doing base 10 arithmetic, Byster quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods. After that, he continued to do shows for free to schools across the United States. In December 2003, he released the website Mike's Math, but this was discontinued in 2007. In 2008, Byster produced the Brainetics math and memory system. Byster claims that Brainetics uses both sides of the brain to process and store information, allowing anyone to recall the information at a fast pace.

Media appearances Mike appeared on ABC's 20/20 in 2007. From 2007 onwards, he has appeared on multiple television and radio shows. On January 21, 2010, Mike appeared on Oprah Radio's The Gayle King Show. Mike has appeared on The Shopping Channel in Canada and QVC in the United States multiple times. He appeared on Fox News June 8, 2011. He has also appeared on WGN in July 2011, Good Day New York in August 2011 and then Fox News Boston on October 27, 2011. He was on WBEZ's Afternoon Shift on September 27, 2013. In November 2016, Mike gave a TEDx talk titled "How to Think Like a Genius". On June 26, 2017, Mike competed on the FOX TV competition series Superhuman. Byster won that week's competition and with that received $50,000 and the title of "Superhuman". He is a monthly guest on WOCM's The Rude Awakening Show.

Personal life Byster got married in the early 1990s and has a son, Josh, to whom he has taught his methods. He currently resides in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mike Byster

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mike Byster claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mike Byster before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mike Byster ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mike Byster

In research: Mike Byster appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mike Byster in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mike Byster is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, 20th-century American Jews, 21st-century American Jews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mike Byster outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mike Byster in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mike Byster means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mike Byster out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mike Byster in simple terms?

Michael Byster (born March 5, 1959) is an American mental calculator, and math educator. He worked in the financial field until he quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods.

Why does Mike Byster matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mike Byster?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mike Byster.