Book excerpt: Vedic Mathematics for School offers a fresh and easy approach to learning mathematics. The system was reconstructed from ancient Vedic sources by the late Bharati Krsna Tirthaji earlier this century and is based on a small collection of sutras. Each sutra briefly encapsulates a rule of mental working, a principle or guiding maxim. Through simple practice of these methods all may become adept and efficient at mathematics. Book I of the series is intended for primary schools in which many of the fundamental concepts of mathematics are introduced. It has been written from the classroom experience of teaching Vedic mathematics to eight and nine years-old. At this age a few of the Vedic methods are used, the rest being introduced at a later stage.