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What Is Vedic Maths? How It Helps Children Calculate Faster and with Confidence
A parent once told me: “My son is in Grade 8 and he’s good at maths. He understands the concepts and rarely makes mistakes. But he takes so long that he can’t finish his tests, and he loses marks on questions he knows how to do.”
Many parents will recognise this. The child understands maths but is slow at calculating. Vedic Maths helps with exactly this: it gives children quicker, shorter ways to reach the same correct answer.
What is Vedic Maths?
Vedic Maths is a set of mental calculation methods. Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, Shankaracharya of Puri, presented it in his book Vedic Mathematics (published in 1965). He described 16 sutras (short principles) and 13 sub-sutras, which he said were based on the Vedas.
Vedic Maths is not a separate subject from school maths. It covers the same arithmetic and algebra, solved with fewer steps, and often worked mentally from left to right, from the highest digit to the lowest.
Try it yourself: squaring a number that ends in 5
What is 35 × 35? Most of us would reach for a calculator.
A Vedic Maths student does it in two quick steps.
Step 1: Multiply the last digits: 5 × 5 = 25.
Write 25 as the last two digits of the answer.
Step 2: Take the first digit, 3, and multiply it by the next number up, 4. 3 × (3 + 1) = 3 × 4 = 12.
Write 12 to the left of 25.
12 | 25 → 1225
So 35 × 35 = 1225.
This method comes from the sutra Ekādhikena Pūrvena, which means “by one more than the previous one”. That’s exactly what Step 2 does: we multiply 3 by one more than itself.
Why does it work?
35 × 35 is the same as 30 × 40, plus 5 × 5.
The 5 × 5 = 25 gives the last two digits, and
30 × 40 = 1200 gives the rest: 1200 + 25 = 1225.
That’s why we write 25 first, then 3 × 4 = 12 to its left.
It works every time:
65 × 65 → 5 × 5 = 25, 6 × 7 = 42 → 4225
85 × 85 → 5 × 5 = 25, 8 × 9 = 72 → 7225
105 × 105 → 5 × 5 = 25, 10 × 11 = 110 → 11025
Now ask your child to try 45 × 45.
(Answer: 5 × 5 = 25, 4 × 5 = 20 → 2025)
Tricks like this are only the start. Vedic Maths teaches children why a method works, so they understand the pattern instead of memorising a shortcut.
How Vedic Maths helps children
Speed: Long written steps become short ones, so children finish tests in time.
Accuracy: Fewer steps mean fewer chances to make mistakes.
Number sense: Children start to see patterns in numbers instead of just following procedures.
Confidence: When calculations feel easy, children stop dreading maths.
Checking answers: Children can solve a problem the school way, then check the answer quickly with a Vedic method. This is especially useful in exams.
Who is Vedic Maths for?
Vedic Maths suits students aged 12–17, in Grades 7–12. There are four levels, and each level has 24 one-hour sessions.
It works best for children who already understand their school maths concepts. It speeds up what they know; it doesn’t replace learning the concepts in the first place.
Children continue to follow their school methods for homework and exams, and use Vedic Maths to work faster and check their answers.
How is it different from Abacus? Abacus is a brain gym for younger children (ages 5–12), building mental calculation skills step by step through progressive levels.
Vedic Maths is for older students and builds on school maths with logical, faster methods.
Vedic Maths classes at Reachh Shubhodya
Reachh Shubhodya offers one-to-one online Vedic Maths classes for all four levels, scheduled in your time zone, for students in India and abroad. Each class is 60 minutes, twice a week, and your child gets the teacher’s full attention.
Enrolments are now open for the January 2027 batch.
Book a free 30-minute trial class to see how your child responds to Vedic Maths.
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