I am a numbskull when it comes to numbers; my brain seems to freeze. Usually, it doesn’t matter because I can use a calculator if I need to. But when doing the Nymbl exercises to improve balance, I became frustrated at my ineptitude with maths questions. You do the physical exercises simultaneously with cognitive exercises: word jumbles, simple maths, intermediate maths, memory skills and general knowledge. The intermediate maths exercises continually trip me up, so to speak, particularly in subtraction when the number in the ones column is greater than that in the ones column of the number you are subtracting from. My times tables appear to have deserted me too, despite years of chanting them at primary school. I often add using my fingers. Meanwhile, the clock is counting down while my brain starts to implode – or is it stretching along with my limbs? The hardest exercises are where you choose which of three options is the greatest number, which involves a combination of division, subtraction and multiplication. In your head!

I am so annoyed by my lack of maths skills that I have bought a maths workbook – designed for 10 to 11 year olds – and have become quite absorbed in the exercises. I’m learning new skills, some of which I use for the Nymbl exercises – although they’re under pressure of time and you’re trying to balance at the same time.

The exercise in the workbook (below left) was a timed exercise – but I just took it slowly and carefully, and got 100% correct. The answers are in the back of the book.

Who knew you could turn subtraction into addition? Everybody, probably, except me! The ‘Addition using an algorithm’ however (despite the use of the word ‘algorithm’) was the way I learnt addition at school. It was called ‘carry one’ then – now it’s ‘renaming’ (a one becomes a ten, etc). Also, putting the renamed number at the top of the next column makes it harder to overlook than putting it at the bottom of the column, as I was taught.

I’m looking forward to getting to division and multiplication. Just 18 pages to go!