“Numbers are the highest degree of knowledge. It is knowledge itself.” -Plato

As the quote elucidates, knowledge sits on the shoulders of numbers. Whenever I encounter a quote like this, particularly when the source is as renowned as that of the likes of Plato, I sit back and muse smugly that I hit the nail on the head many years ago when I realized that numbers were indeed the highest degree of knowledge. Extrapolating from this realization, we can say with certainty then that learning to work with numbers as through math tricks and such-that is, getting an inner feel for all their intricacies and richness-will produce extraordinary results in the education of any man, woman, or child.

During my first year of college, my fortuitous stumbling in pre-calculus actually led me to the transcendent awareness that mathematics paved a road to a higher-indeed spiritual-realm. Because I was determined to maintain my “A” average, I forced myself to open my arms to this subject and to study it feverishly. Having secured the “A” grade in pre-calculus, I plunged headlong into calculus. Similar experiences with calculus reinforced my belief that math and numbers were the key to all higher learning and our connection to the divine. Indeed many of the quotes from famous mathematicians embrace the idea that math touches upon this very sphere of existence.

So how do we use this knowledge about numbers and mathematics to our benefit? Simply, we probe the world of numbers and operations involving them. To make matters more fun, we learn math tricks which sharpen our math skills and give us a sense of power over these curious and ever mind-bending creatures.