Developing a mathematical brain?

In the young ages the best is: - simple logical games ( something similar to toys with geometrical shapes, building figures and stuff) In the teenage ages and later: - chess, - more complex logical games, - Use active, hands-on situations that activate several parts of the brain. Even gesturing can help students learn new mathematical concepts, - Visual, spatial, hands-on, manipulative activities may stimulate myelinization of different parts of the brain, - Encourage integration of all the senses, - Encourage students to look for patterns, - use spaced practice and contextualized situations, not overlearning or cramming in one setting, - construct their own knowledge and to make connections between new knowledge and old, - Allow students time for processing and reflection and time to “sleep on” difficult problems, - Let students lead in the suggestions of interesting problems to work. Students who have a passion about what they are learning will spend much more time in the learning process.

Chess, backgammon, darts (a lot of mental arithmetic in darts) and checkers all develop analytical abilities and visio-spatial thinking which is important in mathematics.

Ubuntu-Linux, free software, educational. There is a library of software for the mathematically inclined. I only say Ubuntu because it is the easiest operating system for a Windows only user.

I am ranked at around "Master" in chess and do advanced math research (number theory, neural-networks, AI). If you want to pay for it and have the time to use it Mathemathica is a great shareware math tool for Windows. It is not really aimed at teaching however but more of a research tool (Mathlab being the alternative).

Similar tools at varying levels are free on Linux/Unix based systems, VM one or try running Ubuntu-Linux live (you can install it inside Windows, partitioned with Windows, or not install it at all). For an example learning tool (this may be beyond your scope of interest\ability) Crypttools is a free program for learning the basics of cryptography and is platform agnostic.

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