👉 Ghost math refers to the practice of performing mathematical operations without explicitly writing down intermediate results, often for the sake of efficiency or to avoid cluttering calculations. This technique involves using properties of numbers, such as the distributive property or the identity elements (like 0 and 1), to simplify complex expressions. For example, instead of calculating \(2 \times (3 + 4)\) directly as \(2 \times 3 + 2 \times 4\), one might use the distributive property to rewrite it as \(2 \times 3 + (2 \times 4)\), which simplifies to \(6 + 8 = 14\). Ghost math is particularly useful in competitive mathematics and programming, where clarity and speed are paramount.
