Update 5/9/2012:
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Yusnier Viera, a former co-worker and current world record holder in calendar mental calculation, brought to my attention the concept of cross multiplying. After learning the basics and practicing over time, I have been able to successfully multiply upto four digit by four digit computations in my head. Since the exercise is stimulating and to a certain extent entertaining, I decided to build an iPhone application to easily practice.
Unlike paper and pencil, using an iPhone app allows for immediate feedback while entering the answer. I've been learning how to develop iOS apps for both iPhone & iPad and I am on the verge of releasing this application. Since I'm anxious to get it out to the world, I have defer creating the tutorial, the statistics page as well as game center integration, until future updates.
I decided to give the app a representative iconic person, so Einstein fit the bill.
Once loaded, you are presented with the home screen where you can link out to a video tutorial or simply start the app.
Once started, you can interactively create up to 4x4 multiplications to test your mental calculating abilities. In a future update, I'll hook it up to game center and keep track of best times for each type as well as increase the scale up to 8x8.
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