Mental Calculation Talk

Wong (first row, fourth from left) with the participants

The Centre for Extension Education (CEE) in collaboration with Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement (MMLM) organised a talk titled “Increase Your Intelligence with Mental Calculation” on 24 March 2018 at the Sungai Long Campus.

Wong giving his talk

Invited to deliver the talk was West Wong, a mental arithmetic expert in Malaysia who has been dubbed as “Malaysian Human Calculator”. In his talk, he stressed the importance of mathematics in today’s world and encouraged the participants to practice mental calculation in their daily life. “Some people are not sensitive to numeracy. Therefore, it is important to build up numeracy skills as it is crucial in the 21st-century.”

He presented the statistics on maths performance in Malaysia and explained the important difference between the two assessments, namely Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). He further explained what the results indicate about Malaysian students’ achievement compared to other countries. “In the fast-moving world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we must improve our maths performance. Falling backwards simply means our students lack logical reasoning skills and problem-solving skills to tackle real-world problems. This will cause Malaysia to deviate from the developed world,” he said.

He advised the participants to equip themselves with critical skills such as the communication skills, corporation skills and teamwork skills. He also urged them to prepare themselves for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the challenges for the next ten years. “AI is going to be better than us, particularly in those repetitive and highly calculative tasks. How would a human be able to win over the machine if the person is not good in something that human should be good at?” he said.

Peter Wong sharing his experiences with the participants

Moreover, the first runner-up winner of last year’s mental calculation competition, Peter Wong Kar Fai was also invited to share his experiences and story with the participants. He amazed the audience with the demonstration of his calculating ability such as number squaring, mental calendar dates calculating, speed mental addition and Flash Anzan.

Tan (right) advising participant to be adaptable to any situation

QQ Tan demonstrating her memory skill

Chin during the cup stacking demonstration

The talk also saw the presence of two special guests, QBrain Master Trainer and Award-winning Speaker SK Tan and International Sport Stacking Federation (ISSF) Malaysia President Jacky Chin Keat Wooi to share their insights and valuable information with the participants. Tan’s daughter, QQ Tan Qian Hui showcased her mental capabilities during the talk. After obtaining 50 random numbers from the participants, she managed to recall and repeat the numbers in the correct order and also the reverse order. Besides, Chin introduced sport stacking to the participants with the demonstration of movement patterns and stacking techniques.

In order to promote the importance of mental literacy among public and students, Wong encouraged the participants to take part in the upcoming contest—Mind competitions 2018, where the participants will stand a chance to win massive prizes. The event will be held on 14 April 2018 and it is open to all ages from pre-school children to university students and working professionals to retirees.

For more details and registration on Mind Competitions 2018, please visit the MMLM official website at www.utar.edu.my/mmlm. Potential participants may also email to mmlm@utar.edu.my or call +603-90860288 (ext 810) or +603-90198088 for enquiries.

CEE English Unit Head Raiza Azni binti Suhainih (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Wong