Mike Byster
Michael Byster is an American mental calculator, and math educator. He worked in the financial field until he quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods. He has spoken to over 10,000 classrooms for free and continues to mentor children. Mike is able to do many arithmetic problems in his head at very fast speeds. During a study done years ago, Byster was claimed to have one of the fastest mathematical minds in the world.
Biography
Early life
Byster was raised along with his older sister in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois. His parents Gloria and Dave encouraged his math shortcuts at a young age. He went to Niles North High School and then attended University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, graduating with a bachelor's degree in finance in 1981.Career
Byster worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but after his cousin, a math teacher in a Chicago area high school, invited him to show the class his shortcuts for doing base 10 arithmetic, Byster quit his job to devote himself to teaching children his methods. After that, he continued to do shows for free to schools across the United States. In December 2003, he released the website Mike's Math, but this was discontinued in 2007.In 2008, Byster produced the Brainetics math and memory system. Byster claims that Brainetics uses both sides of the brain to process and store information, allowing anyone to recall the information at a fast pace.