A little bit of magic

It's a new month! Think of all the possibilities that November holds!
For me it holds a lot of hours in school and a lot of work, but I'm going to see that as a good thing. My placement has been fun so far and hopefully that will continue.

This week has been half-term so I actually had a few days neither in school or Uni (although not without work) and I was able to take stock of what's happened in the past eight weeks, as well as think about everything that's got to happen in the next seven, before I get another afternoon off.

A few weeks ago it was mentioned by a member of staff that teachers, of course, aren't doing it for the money, but for the sense of pride in helping others. So I was somewhat surprised to hear they were going to strike, but strike they did. Most students took the Thursday off too, but for the few of us who opted to 'cross the picket line' (*ten, cold, people with a banner*) it turned out alright.

I feel the time has come for me to teach you something, so get a pen and a piece of paper and we'll begin.

Choose two three-digit numbers.
I'll use 468 and 615.
Were going to do a subtraction calculation, but one with a bit of magic. Please follow along with your numbers and try to keep up.

Put the bigger number on top.
     615
   - 468
I don't know about yours, but mine isn't the easiest subtraction to make. So I'll replace my top number with 999.
     999
   - 468
That's much easier. Looking down the columns I get the answer 531.

Now I'll add that to my original 'top' number.
     531
  + 615
  =1146

Now I'll remove the 1 from the front of my answer.
     146
And then add it.
     146+1
Which equals:
     147
This is the answer to my sum.
     (615-468=147)

If you followed the steps correctly, you will find that yours has worked too. I hope that impresses you as much as it did me. Now go and amaze your friends!