Use Python to Keep Your Brain Sharp

“Use it or lose it” certainly applies where brain function is concerned. The experts tell you to exercise your brain to keep it in shape and ward off forgetfulness and possibly dementia when you are older.

One way to exercise your brain is to do computations in your head. Not long ago I read a book called The Power of Forgetting by Mike Byster that introduced several tricks and methods for doing these mental computations. One that stuck with me was how to multiply two, two-digit numbers in your head. Here’s an excerpt from the book explaining how to do it:

There are probably easier ways to do mental multiplication but Byster’s method is meant to be an exercise in remembering and forgetting numbers at will to make your brain stronger.

I wanted to find a way to challenge myself with the above multiplication method on a regular basis. My solution was to write a very small Python script that would generate random two-digit by two-digit multiplication problems and display them on screen. Here is what I came up with:

from random import randint
from ctypes import windll

firstNumber = randint(10,99)
secondNumber = randint(10,99)

problem = str(firstNumber) + " x " + str(secondNumber)
answer = str(firstNumber*secondNumber)

windll.user32.MessageBoxA(0, problem, "Can you multiply these in your head?", 0)
windll.user32.MessageBoxA(0, "The answer is: " + answer, "How did you do?", 0)

The script simply generates two random two-digit numbers, displays them to the user, then displays the correct answer when the user closes the first message box. I used Python’s ctypes library to create Windows message boxes,so you would need to make some adjustments if you wanted to use it on a different operating system. I also set up my task scheduler to run the script automatically every hour. Now, throughout the day at work and at home I’m reminded to exercise my mind in a way I wouldn’t normally exercise it.