Do the Math

Quick Win

Practice the basics or challenge yourself with advanced problems. Sharpening math skills can engage the brain — and it’s fun!

Try This Today

• Run some drills. Flash cards aren’t just for kids! Look for a printable set online to brush up on math facts.
• Problem-solve. Start with single-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication or division and then try multiple-digit problems. Too easy? Look online for algebra, geometry or calculus problems.
• Check your work with a calculator. Answers don’t match? Use paper and pencil to see where you went wrong.

Why

Has it been a minute since you’ve reviewed your times tables or done some long division? Whether you think of yourself as a “math person” or not, number-crunching can be fun and mentally engaging. Working with numbers “is closely related to a range of cognitive abilities,” including attention, language, spatial skills and executive function, according to the authors of a study of 134 adults ages 20 to 68 published in the European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education in 2025. In that study, participants solved a variety of math problems, and researchers checked whether age was a factor in how well they scored. The results showed that older adults were about as accurate as younger ones on most tasks. A bigger predictor of performance was how often people crunched numbers in their daily lives. Keep exploring math if you enjoy it and remember, there’s no teacher grading you!